Wow, Are NFTs Really Pumping?

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜Azuma (@azuma_eth)

The long-cold NFT sector seems to be showing rare signs of warming up.

According to CoinGecko data, the total market cap of the NFT sector has rebounded to over $6 billion, currently reported at $6.417 billion, with a 24-hour increase of 23.2%; the growth in trading volume is even more exaggerated, with a total trading volume of approximately $40 million in the past 24 hours, an increase of about 318.3%.

Among mainstream NFT projects, CryptoPunks, Moonbirds, and Pudgy Penguins have performed particularly well.

• CryptoPunks saw a whale spending millions of dollars last night to sweep up 45 pieces (the whale also bought several Chromie Squiggles). NFT artist Jediwolf noted that in just 5 hours from last night to this morning, a total of 76 CryptoPunks changed hands, marking the largest sweep since 2021. As of writing, the floor price of CryptoPunks is temporarily at 47.5 ETH, a 24-hour increase of 15.9%.

• Moonbirds gained attention because OpenSea briefly changed its official X avatar to a Moonbirds series image last night, boosting its popularity. As of writing, the floor price of Moonbirds is temporarily at 1.94 ETH, a 24-hour increase of 33.3%.

• Pudgy Penguins, considered the "light of the industry" during the NFT winter, recently appeared in the second season of the American TV series "Poker Face," capturing some out-of-circle traffic. As of writing, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins is temporarily at 16.4 ETH, a 24-hour increase of 13.8%.

Apart from the aforementioned standout projects, most NFT projects have seen significant increases. As of writing, BAYC has a 24-hour increase of 13.2%, Azuki 26.8%, and even the Bitcoin ecosystem is not left out, with Taproot Wizards seeing a 24-hour increase of 30.3%.

Additionally, NFT concept tokens have also surged. According to OKX market data, as of writing, BLUR is temporarily at 0.1176 USDT, a 24-hour increase of 27.4%, currently ranking third on OKX's gainers list.

Regarding the warming up of the NFT market, although there have been people "calling the shots" earlier, in the long years of the past few years, various "hype methods" around NFTs have appeared too many times, only to see the sector getting colder day by day, leaving retail investors numb to similar "pumping" rhetoric.

On July 16, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted on X platform that "ETH Season has arrived, and the DeFi and NFT markets will benefit and make a comeback," but at that time, most of the replies under his post were mainly teasing.

However, as the long-awaited "altcoin season" shows some signs of arrival recently, discussions about whether the NFT market can warm up have gradually increased.

BitmapPunks founder and well-known NFT collector FreeLunchCapital today said that some institutions have already contacted him in advance to try to accumulate NFTs — "Starting two weeks ago, some institutions have contacted me with some interesting offers. Everyone knows I don't sell NFTs, but that's not entirely true. If the other party has resources to attract more people to pay attention to NFTs and help the industry reach the next level, I would consider over-the-counter transactions."

Abstract contributor 0xCygaar and other veterans who were active in the last NFT cycle are even exclaiming that "NFT Season has finally returned."

The sudden warming up of NFTs is not too hard to understand logically.

On one hand, as ETH rebounds strongly and quickly surges to high levels, the following funds will consider ETH-related investment targets while focusing on ETH. Since NFTs originated in the Ethereum ecosystem and most top projects are still concentrated in the Ethereum ecosystem, to some extent, the NFT sector can be seen as an alternative choice to ETH. From the trading volume, the NFTs with the largest trading volume are still the top projects with relatively sufficient liquidity on the Ethereum chain, indicating that the funds for this small rebound mainly come from within the Ethereum ecosystem.

On the other hand, after a long period of downturn, the entire NFT market has undergone sufficient reshuffling — weak hands have exited, and market manipulators may have already completed target selection and chip layout. Considering the non-standard liquidity characteristics of NFTs themselves, compared to altcoins, NFTs might be an easier choice for market manipulation.

The current problem is, because the NFT market was previously too cold, the sector's consensus has almost collapsed. Even if there is a short-term rise in popularity, whether more retail investors and funds will follow up remains unknown.

In other words, the current situation is — if you say the altcoin season is coming, maybe many retail investors would be willing to buy in, but if you say NFTs are about to surge, it's less believable than saying I'm Qin Shi Huang...