March Monthly NFT Report

Two interesting trends occurred for NFT chains and marketplaces in March. Despite breaking out in February to reach 4.2% of total NFT trading volume, Polygon fell to under 1% of the total market, making it once again the 3rd largest NFT chain. On the other hand, Blur didn’t slow down and instead widened its lead as the most popular marketplace. It now has 66% of total trading volume, making it a truly disruptive project in an industry where the adjective is thrown around too loosely.

ETH, and the market in general, reflected the stock market, dipping sharply at the beginning of the month then bouncing back strongly.

Despite decent price support and user numbers, the investment environment for NFT projects was relatively muted. The largest round — a joint venture between Animoca Brands and Hex Trust — raised $7.5M. All rounds were either Seed or Pre-Seed.

Key Findings

Crypto Macro Overview

The daily price of ETH dropped to 1,429 on March 11, but then rebounded to a 7-month high at the end of the month
ETH’s price action was correlated to a weak beginning of the month for the S&P followed by a strong rebound

NFT Market Overview

The market cap of NFTs reached 20.4B on March 18, lower than February highs
NFT trading volume was down significantly down after a strong February
In March, there was 1.5B in NFT trading volume
The number of weekly NFTs users declined by 25 to 35% from February

Chains & Marketplaces for NFTs

The largest chain for NFT trading volume was ETH, with 1.4B in volume
Polygon went from $84.2M in volume to $15.2M
OpenSea, the most profitable marketplace, received $5.3M in platform fees
Blur expanded its share-of-market, accounting for over 65% of trading volume

NFT Investment & Funding

Funding rounds in the NFT sector declined from 10 to 8, while total rounds declined by 38%
Gryfyn, a decentralized custodial wallet joint venture between Animoca Brands and Hex Trust, raised the largest round, a $7.5m Seed round

Crypto Macro Overview

ETH dropped to 1,429 on March 11, but then rebounded 30%

This jump is a 7-month high, showing a relatively strong performance for the cryptocurrency. The price action correlates to a weak beginning of the month for the S&P followed by a strong rebound, although not as closely as the correlation during the bull market.

Price of ETH

NFT Market Overview

NFTs reached a 20.4B market cap on March 18

Note that this figure excludes wash trading detected by Footprint Analytics. This is slightly lower than its highest in February — $21.2B. However, NFT trading volume decreased markedly, to $1.5B.

NFT Market Cap & Volume

NFT Volume by Chain (with Wash Trading Filtered)

The number of weekly NFTs users declined MoM

Since this chart and metric is summarized on a weekly basis, it’s possible to give a rough figure of 25 to 35% based on the general price areas.

Weekly Users

Chains & Marketplaces for NFTs

Ethereum remains the largest chain for NFT trading volume

The network saw $1.4B in volume in March, while others saw their largest contraction ever relative to the overall market. Polygon was especially hard hit, going from from $84.2M in volume to $15.2M.

NFT Volume by Chain (with Wash Trading Filtered)

OpenSea generated $5.3M in platform fees in March

The marketplace remains far-and-away the most profitable, followed by LooksRare.

Marketplaces Table February

Blur accounted for over 66% of trading volume

The aggregator marketplace focused on high-performance NFT trading continued to expand its lead in the market. This is unsurprising considering the bear market selects for the participation of the most advanced traders. Whether it retains its dominance and attracts casual users upon a market recovery remains to be seen.

NFT Volume by Marketplace (With Wash Trading Filtered)

NFT Investment & Funding Overview

While total rounds in the blockchain industry declined by 38%, the NFT sector saw a 20% drop MoM

Eight NFT projects closed rounds in March, but amounts were relatively small. Gryfyn, a decentralized custodial wallet joint venture between Animoca Brands and Hex Trust, raised $7.5M. All rounds last month were Seed or Pre-Seed.

Investment by Category

This piece is contributed by Footprint Analytics community.

The Footprint Community is a place where data and crypto enthusiasts worldwide help each other understand and gain insights about Web3, the metaverse, DeFi, GameFi, or any other area of the fledgling world of blockchain. Here you’ll find active, diverse voices supporting each other and driving the community forward.

Footprint Website: https://www.footprint.network

Discord: https://discord.gg/3HYaR6USM7

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Footprint_Data