Whether it’s macro related, Terra related or just that time of the four-year cycle, crypto is generally bleeding, and that very much includes NFTs.

The dumpiness is down to all of those reasons and more (with “macro” referring to inflation, and ongoing concerns of US regulatory overreach, mostly), but let’s hone in on a few of the latest NFT headlines for a moment or three…

 

Sales volume is down… right?

Sunday saw the lowest volume of NFT sales on OpenSea, the biggest non-fungible tokens marketplace, since December. A mere US$52 million worth of apes, punks, rocks, owls and the like were sold, according to Dune Analytics.

Just a week earlier, daily NFT sales volume hit a yearly high of more than US$476 million (well above average, to be fair). And in April, daily volume moved below US$100 million only a few times.

So, zooming in over the past handful of days, there is definitely a presently declining trend in this segment reflecting the state of the wider market. No surprise there, of course.

But… zooming out a bit, and there’s a case to be made it’s not necessarily time to panic sell all those cartoon avatars your family and friends think you’re an idiot for buying. (Definitely not financial advice.)

So far this year there’s been more than US$43 billion worth of trading volume, which is about two and a half times more than the 2021 total of about US$17 billion (according to stats from IntoTheBlock). And we’re not even halfway through the year. So, there’s that.

madonna beeple
Year-to-date NFT trading volume. Source: IntoTheBlock app

 

Guess it all depends on the lens through which you’re looking, and the timeframe you’re considering. But, right now…

 

The panic selling is real…

An NFT from CryptoPunks – one of the OG collections in the sector – sold for an 86% loss a few days ago.

CryptoPunk #273 sold for more than US$1 million in October, so we can only imagine how its seller must be feeling letting it go for a mere US$139,836 on Sunday.

This reflects a pretty hefty downturn for CryptoPunks in general, with eight of the past 10 selling for a loss, according to this Twitter account…

Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks was acquired by Yuga Labs in March, the team behind the wildly successful Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. But despite this perceived positivity for both projects at the time, generally speaking the apes aren’t travelling so well right now, either, with its floor price down about 55% since April.

It’s been a similar story for popular NFT collections pretty much across the board this past week, including Moonbirds (its floor price has fallen from a peak of close to 40 ETH down to about 22 ETH at the time of writing), Azuki, Otherside and more.

 

Madonna and Beeple team up for ‘Mother of Creation’ NFTs

Recent negative NFT price action hasn’t stopped Madonna launching a collection of her own. Depending on how you look at it, or perhaps what you might think of “Mads”, it’s either a bold, creative vision, or just completely and utterly bonkers and wince-inducingly self indulgent.

madonna beeple
A screen grab from Madonna and Beeple’s ‘Mother of Nature’ NFT. (Source: motherofcreation.xyz)

The famous pop star has teamed up with digital artist Beeple (he of the US$69m NFT sale fame) to launch a tokenised, animated audio/visual collection that depicts the singer as a butt-naked, birthing mother of nature, evolution and technology.

A screen grab from Madonna and Beeple’s ‘Mother of Evolution’ NFT. (Source: motherofcreation.xyz)

The three pieces show an animated Madonna spreadeagled in different locations, giving birth to a tree, butterflies and creepy robotic centipedes. Yep. It’s all set to kinda poetic, quasi-philosophical musings from the singer.

A screen grab from Madonna and Beeple’s ‘Mother of Technology’ NFT. (Source: motherofcreation.xyz)

To be fair to it all, the NFTs are ultimately for a good cause. They’re set to go up for auction via SuperRare today (May 11) and Madonna has stated that all of the proceeds will go towards three different non-profit organisations: National Bail Out, V-Day and Voices of Children.

Here… you’ve got to see them in all their glory to truly, erm, appreciate them… motherofcreation.xyz

 

 

 

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