What Happened to NFTs?

Let’s face it, folks! Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are having a bit of a rough patch, like that friend who always promises to bring dessert but shows up empty-handed. Prices and trading volumes are taking a nosedive after OpenSea rolled out its first XP crate distribution. I mean, what’s going on?

Price Slump in NFT Classics

Some of the big guns in the NFT world, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pudgy Penguins, have seen their prices drop by over 50% since last summer. Can you say “ouch”? After a brief market rally thanks to OpenSea’s chest farming system, we’re now looking at an epic downturn. Just last week, OpenSea NFT volumes dropped a whopping 48%! Meanwhile, Blur isn’t faring much better, with volumes plummeting 60%. Talk about a party foul!

Asset Prices Take a Hit

So, what’s the damage? The Bored Ape Yacht Club is now chilling at 6.55 ETH (around $24,000) — its lowest price since 2021. That’s down 26% in just one month! And don’t even get me started on the Pudgy Penguins, who’ve taken a 33% dive to 6.65 ETH, which is a heart-wrenching 80% drop from their all-time high back in December. Seriously, who let the penguins down?

Azuki’s Crash Landing

Now let’s talk about Azuki — once trading at over 35 ETH (yep, you read that right), it’s currently limping along at just 1.08 ETH. This is after they were minted for a humble 1 ETH per NFT back in 2022. The collection even wobbled below 1 ETH recently due to some intense Blur loan liquidations. It’s like watching a rollercoaster from hell!

Newcomers Are Not Safe Either

Even new NFT collections, like Hyperliquid’s Hypurrs, aren’t escaping the cringe fest. They were changing hands for a staggering 950 HYPE (or $41,000) after trading at a peak of $57,000 just two days earlier. It’s like they’re playing hot potato with their value!

OpenSea’s Farming Fiasco

In an attempt to jazz things up, OpenSea wrapped up its first chest farming campaign on October 17. Users were farming XP to earn chests that were supposedly packed with shiny NFTs and points, setting them up for future big bucks in $SEA allocations. Spoiler alert: It turns out most farmers got the short end of the stick, with nothing but a few pennies for their efforts. Oh, and if you were lucky enough to snag an NFT worth over $10,000, guess what? You get to fill out a KYC form just for kicks!

What’s Next for OpenSea?

After all this chaos, OpenSea’s big cheese, Devin Finzer, tried to sprinkle some positivity on the mess by bragging about crossing $2.6 billion in trading volume this month. He rattled off some stats, claiming over 90% of trades are from token trading, and let us know it’s just the start of their grand transformation into the “everything trade” station. Sounds cool, right? But alas, the trading volume for OpenSea DEX aggregators has tanked since the chest extravaganza — going from a jaw-dropping $462 million on October 15 to a sad $3 to $8 million a day. Yikes!

Final Thoughts

So, as we observe the beautiful chaos of NFTs, it’s clear that the market is feeling a little shaky and a lot uncertain. Buckle up, everyone. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!