NFT sales volume tumbles 54% in May: CryptoSlam

NFT sales dropped from $1 billion in April to $624 million in May, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana-based digital collectibles significantly declining.

Blockchain-based digital collectibles experienced a slowdown in May despite showing an uptick in April 2024, according to data tracker CryptoSlam.

On May 31, the nonfungible token (NFT) data platform showed that in the last 30 days, NFTs had a global sales volume of $624 million. This represents a 54% drop in overall NFT sales volume compared to April, when NFTs had a volume of over $1 billion. 

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana NFTs down

Among the top blockchains used for nonfungible tokens, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana showed a decline in sales volume in May.

While Bitcoin-based NFTs gained over $179 million in sales volume in the last 30 days, they also had one of the highest declines in sales volume.

According to CryptoSlam, Bitcoin NFT sales volume is down by 68% compared to April.

Meanwhile, the second and third-ranked blockchains by sales volume, Ethereum and Solana, also experienced downward trends in May. Data showed that the blockchains showed a 55% and 48% decline in sales volume in May.

In the top 10 NFT collections, Solana-based Mad Lads and Ethereum-based collections CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) were the biggest losers.

BAYC showed the highest decrease in the list, with its sales volume declining by 54%. Mad Lads showed a 44% decline, while CryptoPunks experienced a 41% drop.

In March, the popular NFT collection CryptoPunks broke its record sales twice. On March 4, a rare alien CryptoPunk was sold for $16 million. This was followed by another record-breaking sale when CryptoPunk #7804 was bought for $16.4 million on March 20.

Despite the uptick in March, the collection only recorded $15 million in overall sales volume in May.

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Going against the trend

While the overall NFT sales volume decreased in May, some collections experienced growth. The social finance (SocialFi) project Fantasy Top experienced significant growth in May, pushing Blast into the list of top blockchains for NFTs.

Apart from Fantasy Top, the Immutable-based blockchain game Guild of Guardians showed a 69% increase in sales volume, driving the blockchain’s overall volume. According to CryptoSlam, Immutable showed a 23% growth in sales volume in May.

On Solana, the DogeZuki Collection and Solana Monkey Business were the biggest gainers, showing 130% and 74% growth, respectively.