By Elizabeth Howcroft

LONDON (Reuters – Sales of NFTs grew from cartoon apes into video clips in 2021, as this speculative crypto asset exploded. However, there were some signs that growth was slowing toward the end. Data from DappRadar market tracker DappRadar indicates.

The prices of certain non-fungible tokens (crypto assets that represent digital items such as images or videos) rose so rapidly last year, that many speculators were able to ‘turn’ them for profit in a matter of days.

Auction houses have been selling NFTs of simple cartoons at millions of dollars, and no actual objects. At a March Christie’s sale, one NFT artwork sold for a record $69.3 Million.

Even so, Gucci and Coca Cola, two of the most recognizable brands in the world, also sell NFTs.

DappRadar announced Monday that NFT sales volumes reached $24.9 Billion in 2021, as compared with $94.9 M the previous year. DappRadar tracks data from ten blockchains. These are used for identifying who is the owner of NFTs. (Graphic: NFT sales climb to $11.6 billion in Q4 – DappRadar, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/xmpjobbnmvr/NFT%20sales%20climb%20to%2011.6%20billion.png)

The data providers may have different estimates depending on which items are included. Data often does not capture transactions that occur ‘off-chain,’ such as NFT sales at auction houses.

CryptoSlam also tracks many blockchains and reported that the total 2021 sales was $18.3 Billion. NonFungible.com only tracks the Ethereum blockchain, and estimates 2021 sales of $15.7 billion.

The money used for NFTs in 2021 will be roughly equal to what was pledged at COP26 by countries to phase out coal or to finance the purchase and deployment of COVID-19 vaccinations by the World Bank.

According to data from OpenSea (the largest NFT marketplace), sales peaked in August and then dropped in September, October, November, before picking back up in December.

It does not appear that this is correlated to fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices, since bitcoin and Ethereum rose during the September-November period. (Graphic: NFT sales on OpenSea, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/dwvkrkkzmpm/NFT%20sales%20on%20OpenSea%20peak%20in%20August.png)

DappRadar stated that 28.6M wallets exchanged NFTs in 2021, an increase from 545,000 in 2020.

NFTs are seen by some as the future in ownership online. Some view NFTs buying as a vote for confidence in development of Web3 or the metaverse. However, other people find it difficult to believe that so much money can be spent on products which don’t actually exist.

Research published in Nature found that only 10% of NFT traders account for 15% of all transactions. (Graphic: Weekly NFT buyers – NonFungible.com, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/mypmnbbazvr/Weekly%20NFT%20buyers.png)

NonFungible.com reported that while the NFT’s most costly sale ever was at $69.3 million it was also in a range of $100-$1,000.

High volatility was seen in the prices of NFTs that are most desired. A CryptoPunk image’s average selling price rose from $100,000 in July, to $500,000 in November. It had dropped to $350,000 by December, CryptoSlam data indicates. (Graphic: NFT price ranges, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/mopanwwwmva/NFT%20price%20ranges.png)

Collectible NFTs were most well-liked, following art and NonFungible.com. NFT sales that are most impressive have occurred for land in metaverse online environments.

Republic Realm was a virtual investor in real estate and purchased land in The Sandbox, which cost $4.3 million. (Graphic: Collectible NFTs are most popular, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zdpxoqqqovx/Collectible%20NFTs%20are%20most%20popular.png)