The non-fungible token (NFT) market is showing signs of life again, seeing a spike in sales and prices for top collections after lying fallow for years.
In the past 24 hours, buyers have scooped up hundreds of NFTs from high-profile projects, sending floor prices soaring and reigniting talk of a broader market comeback.
CryptoPunks’ floor price jumped 17% to 47.75 ETH, or about $183,000 . Over 140 punks were purchased in a single day, a volume that hadn’t been seen this year.
Pudgy Penguins, which recently received a boost after Coinbase changed its avatar on X to a Penguin, saw a 12% bump to 16 ETH, according to NFTPriceFloor data.
Another top gainer, Infinex Patrons, rose 26% to 1.4 ETH. Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Chrome Squiggles were two other collections seeing major gains, adding 20% and 34% respectively.
These collections weren’t the only ones seeing gains. The wider NFT market, according to CoinGecko data, rose 29% rise over 24 hours to $6.82 billion. Sales volume reached $50.4 million, well above January’s peak of $6 billion. NFT sales volumes had been plateauing around $400 million a month this year, CryptoSlam data shows.
The sector saw a major boom back in 2021, but has since endured a years-long bear market. Earlier this year, a once leading NFT marketplace, X2Y2, shut down after trading volumes dropped by more than 90% from their peak.
Other NFT marketplaces pivoted to token trading. Magic Eden acquired trading app Slingshot in April, and OpenSea bought Rally as part of its pivot.