For the Love of the Game (Market Commentary) |
It has been a whirlwind week in Web3. While NFT builders were
away mixing it up with collectors at NFT Paris last week, the traders stayed home to play, pushing NFT volume to heights not seen since January 2022. Before you get too excited and tweet your “I’m thinking we’re back” meme, I just have to tell you, there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
We’ve done a little early spring cleaning at CryptoSlam and hosed down the past few weeks of NFT sales data to reveal what’s
underneath. Let’s just say, it was pretty dirty. While it seemed that NFTs were climbing their way to a new ceiling, the washed-away wash trades reveal that the total USD value of sales on ETH in February is only marginally up from the late 2022 bear market. So what’s really going on out there in NFTs, and why are some traders wash trading to such an extreme? These savvy traders (we call them “degens”) have been putting their skills to work farming points leading up to the next $BLUR token
airdrop, largely by mass listing and bidding on NFTs to fulfill Blur’s #1 rule; “The more you list, the more you earn”. Source Although wash trading, token farming, and everything in between are part of the
space, it adds unwanted color that ends up wildly distorting our image. In an industry that is desperate to earn back the trust of the masses, more clarity and action are needed to earn back that trust. At CryptoSlam, we’re committed to doing our part. As of last week, we have removed a significant amount of sales from the NFT Global Sales Volume, effectively washing away over $577 million dollars worth of wash trades from February. We also buffed our wash detection algorithm to help catch these unwanted wash trades before they reach CryptoSlam.io, and will make any needed modifications as the wash trading and token farming
continues.
It’s important for the public to
be able to easily identify wash trades, so CryptoSlam.io gives you a few ways to distinguish between legitimate trades and wash sales. By marking individual wash sales with a wash icon, you’re now able to identify illegitimate sales as you browse collections’ activity feeds. With our TradingView-powered charts, you can now visualise wash trades as they happen, giving you significant dates and volumes at a glance. Finally, we provide a USD total value of wash trades in a collection based on the terms you
select. Now with a cleaner picture of the NFT markets, we can analyze who is really winning the marketplace war. In the following breakdown, you can see that Blur has clearly gained ground on OpenSea in a way the LooksRare marketplace never did
(LooksRare’s volume was 98% wash trades at this time last year). Marketplace Volume Since $BLUR Airdrop (Feb 2 - 27)
Blur
Clean Sales - $199,655,855
Wash Sales - $823,571,6615
Total Sales- $1,023,219,921
80.5% Wash
OpenSea Clean Sales - $242,864,723 Wash Sales - $6,610,886
Total Sales - $249,475,609
2.65% Wash For now, OpenSea is still the king of marketplaces, but Blur’s strategy of incentivizing trading is paying off in more ways than one. We’ll be watching to see if their impressive (and often genuine) growth sustains into the future while
we bring you the clarity into the markets that you deserve. In other news, the NFT conference circuit is in full swing again, kicking off last week with the return of NFT Paris on February 24 - 25. If you’ve heard that the Web3 industry does its building during a bear market, reports that over
18,000 attendees showed up to the 2 years young conference this time (compared to just 500 in 2022) is proof of how true the saying is. The masses showed up for the parties and swag, but a star-studded list of speakers like Yuga Labs’ founder Greg Solano, Doodles CEO Julian Holguin, Inna Modja (Head of Philanthropy with World of Women), Betty (Co-Founder of Deadfellaz),
Erick Calderon (CEO & Founder of Art Blocks), and even the iconic Yat Siu (Co-Founder an Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands) were undoubtedly the main draw. The best of Web3 was on full display at NFT Paris, and let’s just say, this group of talent should certainly make the space proud. For those who enjoy the building and social side of Web3, the world’s hottest NFT conferences are set to continue all year long. NFT Paris was just a taste of what’s to come, in a year that promises a bigger, better, safer, and more
trustworthy NFT space. Here are some other major events coming this spring. Who knows, we may even see you out there! ETH Denver - Feb 24th - March 5th Outer Edge | LA (formerly known as NFT LA) - March 20 - 23 Miami NFT Week - March 31 - April 2 NFT NYC - April 12-14 Consensus - April 26 - 28 MEGA GMs! Date – Feb 28 Blockchain – WAX Price – $9.99 USD - $29.99 USD Date - Feb 28 Blockchain - Polygon Price - $34.99 USD Date - Mar 1 Blockchain - Ethereum Price - .095 ETH Date – Mar 7 Blockchain – Ethereum Price – TBA Date – Mar 7 Blockchain – Polygon Price – TBA Date – Mar 21 Blockchain – Ethereum Price – TBA |
Traders are sometimes rewarded for selling on a platform, but what if you want rewards without selling your prized NFTs? Wash Trading is a simple solution that gives you the best of both sides, keeping your NFT and giving you the promised
rewards. There are many more applications for Wash Trades, so we encourage you to DYOR (do your own research) and learn all about the controversial practice that is making waves today. Happy researching! Received this from a friend? Sign up for this twice-a-week CryptoSlam VIP newsletter. |
Watch our latest episode of CryptoSlam Clubhouse with guest Hamzah Khan, Head of DeFi at Polygon. Watch all of our previous episodes on Youtube. Don't have time to watch? Listen to all of our episodes, available now on: |
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