Nonfungible tokens and digital collectibles have been selling like hotcakes over the past couple of months as volumes on peer-to-peer marketplaces surge.
From NFTs representing NBA finals moments to crypto industry character cards, the total lifetime NFT volume on the Ethereum blockchain alone has exceeded $120 million, according to crypto research firm Messari.
Messari’s research tracked the demand for NFTs, which includes digital art, collectibles and in-game items, over the third quarter. It found the cumulative number of users who interacted with peer-to-peer NFT marketplace OpenSea surpassed 25,000 and that the platform saw a record $2 million in total volume in September.
Some of the most popular items on the marketplace include cards featuring popular crypto industry insiders such as Uniswap’s Hayden Adams and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.
The average NFT purchase price has also significantly increased over the third quarter, reaching an average of $161, which is the highest since the early days of CryptoKitties in 2017 and seven times the historical average. Messari stated:
“Average spending on NFTs has beaten the historical average of $23 for 150 consecutive days.”
The research noted that digital art marketplace Rarible had launched its own liquidity mining incentives in the third quarter which caused volumes to surge to more than $10 million as traders bought and sold NFTs to earn RARI tokens.
Nonfungible token maker Dapper Labs has also had a highly successful week with its NBA Top Shot collectibles, which have been selling out within minutes. The most recent set, called “The Finals,” includes nine rare moments from the 2020 NBA finals that culminated with a Los Angeles Lakers win.
The sets of digitally verified rare collectibles, including trading cards and digital clips, sold for $230 per pack. When launched, The Finals sold $163,530 worth of NFTs in roughly two minutes and the top buyers spent over $5,000 each on NFTs, according to cryptoslam.io.
A recent blog post noted that almost 8,600 NBA collectibles have been sold P2P for a combined sum of around $330,000 over the last two weeks.
NBA Top Shot launched in full earlier this month after clocking over $2 million in revenue in private beta.