Major NFT marketplace OpenSea saw large trading volumes in August after reaching an average of 60,000 transactions daily. According to crypto intelligence firm CoinMetrics, the current trading volume is eight times higher than the level recorded in March.
DappRadar, another data tracker, reported OpenSea’s trading volume to be $1.22 billion, over ten times higher than the previous month.
Contributing factors
CoinMetrics listed some of the eventful transactions that contributed to the boom. They revealed that an anonymous buyer bought the 104 least expensive CryptoPunks on the market for $7 million, raising the floor price.
Strategically, the buyer used MiningDAO to privately send the 104 transactions directly to miners, making the transactions invisible to outsiders before they were added to the block. This tactic disallowed the frontrunners from buying the floor price. The report added:
“Before the floor sweep the average CryptoPunk sale price was about $60K (over the previous 500 sales). But since the purchases, the average CryptoPunk sale has increased to close to $200K.”
The industry’s potential can be seen by the sale of artist Beeple’s work “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” which was sold for over $69 million at a Christie’s auction, making it the fourth-most expensive artwork by a living artist.
Other potential contributors include Christie’s auction announcement which reported that it would feature Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs in the auction. Soon after the announcement, BAYC’s sales volume increased significantly resulting in millions of dollars of sales.
Additionally, Pudgy Penguins’ trading volume rose by $13.5 million after a heated debate with BAYC on Twitter.
NFTs have a huge influence on Ethereum value since most of them are priced in Ether. The recent expansion of the NFT market will likely have a huge impact on Ether. The report explained:
“During the March NFT boom NFT sales and ETH price were both increasing simultaneously until the market suddenly slowed as supply outpaced demand. NFT sales and ETH price are now both increasing once again.”