For the Love of the Game

(Market Commentary)

2024 wouldn’t be complete without one more market scare, and the past week in crypto was certainly a nail-biter. Bitcoin fell over -12% in the past 7d, though lucky for us today, it looks like we might have a Santa rebound. In the past 24h, Bitcoin is up +5.9% and back over $98k.

Even with such volatility in the market, very little can stop this red hot NFT market. This past week we saw a 35-week high for NFT sales, with sales closing at just over $273m. It’s now our 6th week in a row with sales over $100m, and the 4th straight week where we saw increased sales volume. 

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Even with the strong EOY sprint, I’m shocked by what has transpired in NFTs. Sales in 2024 have actually surpassed 2023’s sales. As of just this morning, the NFT market reached $8,717,920,832.40 in sales, beating last year’s $8,717,690,339.66. It’s something many thought impossible, not because last year was so hot, but instead because few saw the NFT market rebounding so quickly.

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What fueled this epic comeback story?

- Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs went live earlier this year.

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- A face-melting memecoin season (both in the spring and fall).

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- The birth of AI agents with crypto.

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- The biggest catalyst of all,was a historic presidential election where crypto became a key campaign issue.

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When all is said and done this year will be looked at as the year that crypto broke into the mainstream. What that means for these markets in 2025 remains to be seen, but let’s hope it’s the year that mainstream enters the crypto and NFT markets. 

The fact is, still only 7% of the world’s population holds crypto today. With the advancement of AI, and the jobs that it will replace, crypto is likely to be at the forefront of the UBI conversation that’s bubbling up around AI. If we can make an early prediction now, it’s that you should expect that conversation to really ramp up next year.

For now, enjoy the turn in the market today, and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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Peep the charts

• Pudgy Penguins are the #1 collection in NFTs again this week, even with sales down -51.49%. In total, the Pengus saw $24.1m in sales, after the team’s hot $Pengu token drop last week. Lil Pudgys also remained in the top 10 with sales down -60.70% to $8.24m.

• Azuki, Azuki Elementals, and Beanz are cooking, with sales up +5.47% to $13.54m, +54.96% to $7.11m, and +60.46% to $4.03m respectively. The Azuki team is close to launching their $Anime token through the Anime Chain probably in early 2025, and collectors are in a frenzy to get an allocation in that drop.

• Doodles teased an upcoming token drop in a major surprise reveal last week. Like we’ve come to expect, that sent NFT prices soaring, with floor prices crossing 7 $ETH, and sales up +110.41% to $12.24m.

• Ethereum proves yet again that it’s the home for NFTs, with another monster week of sales that totalled more than every other blockchain combined. In total we saw $162.51m in sales, a +10.64% increase from the prior week. Buyers were up +44.77%, and wash sales up +16.54% to $79.4m.

• Bitcoin Ordinals sales fell -42.96% to $30.82m, even with buyers climbing a massive 171.44%. BRC-20s were the biggest seller of the week with over $6.75m in sales, while new collections Sleepyheads and Fukuhedrons combined for $3.42m in sales. 

• Solana NFTs saw $26.19m in sales, a -29.43% decline from the prior week. Buyers were up +97.43% to 125,898, showing that traders are here and active.

Noteworthy Happenings

• OpenSea is one step closer to revealing their upcoming token after creating an OpenSea Foundation X account and website. Will the marketplace win back once-faithful traders from Magic Eden, or is it too little too late? And will their token drop be enough to satisfy traders, who have so far proven to be impossible to please? We’ll find out soon. In the meantime, traders are collecting the OpenSea Gemesis NFTs which seem to be a multiplier for OpenSea points on their upcoming re-imaged marketplace. Genesis sales are up +111.74% to $1.47m on the week.

• Cool Cats and Goblintown are the latest OG NFT collections to tease a token, and both saw NFT sales catch fire this week. Cool Cats sales were up +27.69% to $3.1m, while Goblintown sales saw a +745.14% increase to $1.63m.

• FxHash had a major surprise announcement on Friday, revealing that they will be launching a token for their generative art marketplace. Their new $FXH token will be used to support artist tokens, which will also be launched directly with FxHash. It’s an innovative approach to art collecting, and one that should drive liquidity through the artists.

• Sleepyheads was the hottest new mint on Bitcoin in the past 7d, even with the broader Ordinals market seeing volume fall. Sleepyheads saw $1.98m in sales with over 5068 unique buyers, a massive number in the still-small Bitcoin ecosystem.

NFT Forecast

The CryptoSlam 500 NFT Index fell -2.44% in the past 7d. Crypto has been battered and NFT floor prices tumbled due to low volume. Unlike other times where the index was red this year, sentiment definitely does not match the chart. Heading into our final full week of 2024, traders are not quite euphoric but are optimistic that next year could be one of the most special periods we’ve seen in crypto to date. Some are hoping to repeat their success from the last cycle, and plenty of newcomers are excited about their first-ever bull market in NFTs. 

Either way, it’s sure to be a year to remember.

Be smart and keep your finger on the pulse of this market, by keeping your eyes on CryptoSlam and the indexes. You can stay plugged in by fixing your vision on our new daily Web3 live show called Chain Reactor.

Have a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, and have a MEGA GM!

— Yehudah Petscher

News Headlines

• Nokia files patent showing their move into blockchain security..

• Abstract Chain waitlist access is starting to roll out with SBT.

• Magic Eden shares future milestones for upgrading the marketplace and DEX.

• Satoshi Nakamoto impersonator Craig Wright was sentenced to prison.

• BUZZ will be the PumpFun of Abstract Chain when the mainnet launches in January.

• Hawk Tuah, Haliey Welch, shows support for traders affected by her Hawk rug token.

• AI projects Zerebro and ai16z team up for a groundbreaking new partnership.

• Kraken Exchange has no plans for Runes listings in Q1 of 2025.

• Crypto trader helps raise over $300k for cancer research with St Judes.

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