NFT Market Shows Signs Recovery After Rough Year: Report

Bored Apes and CryptoPunks still rule the world of NFTs. And after enduring a bear market that vaporized 60% of NFT value on Ethereum, green shoots are emerging.

The two collections of NFT avatars account for almost half of Ethereum’s NFT market cap, according to a report published by Dapp Radar on Thursday.

While BAYC and CryptoPunks have lost about three-quarters of their value from their all-time highs in 2022 and 2021, and NFTs as a whole underperformed BTC and ETH last year, the sector is now showing “clear signs of recovery,” DappRadar said.

Trade volume already tagged $870M in 2023. The report estimated Ethereum’s NFT market has climbed 68% from its November low. 

That’s the upshot from a report that chronicled how Yuga Labs, the NFT studio behind Bored Apes, CryptoPunks, has reinforced its supremacy even as the bear market has punished the once high-flying sector.

Worth $3B

The six largest projects owned by Yuga Labs, the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, constitute two-thirds of the market cap for Ethereum’s NFT market, said DappRadar, which analyzed 81 NFT collections on Ethereum. 

NFT Price Floor estimates these projects are worth $3B, or 42% of the cross-chain NFT market cap. That includes popular collections such as Meebits and Mutant Ape Yacht Club.

Newer collections are driving the recovery in the market, with some collections posting triple-digit jumps: Pudgy Penguins’ market cap grew 260%, Degen Toonz Collection rallied 204%, and Azuki gained 114%, despite the bear market.