NFT Trading Volume on Solana Surges Despite Ongoing Crisis

NFT trading volume on Solana saw a surprising and robust surge in the final week of 2022, defying the challenges the platform has been facing.

NFT Trading Volume on Solana Surges Despite Crisis

NFT trading volume on Solana is showing signs of recovery for the ecosystem, even though SOL has lost approximately 94% of its value from its 2021 peak. The last week of December 2022 recorded the highest blockchain activity since September of the same year.

NFT Trading Volume on Major Blockchains as of 04/01/2023. Source: The Block

Despite this strong month of NFT activity, it remains uncertain if Solana will escape further challenges, as much of the NFT trading volume in the ecosystem comes from popular projects such as DeGods and y00ts.

Last week, both projects decided to leave Solana and move to Ethereum in an effort to compete with other blue-chip NFTs like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks. Therefore, the departure of DeGods and y00ts is likely to significantly impact Solana's NFT trading volume going forward.

Nevertheless, the current resurgence in NFT activity on the network is a notable milestone compared to the prolonged crisis Solana has endured over the past two months.

On the other hand, a more positive signal emerged for Solana on 04/01/2023, as the price of SOL "revived" to the $13 range after a dramatic drop to $8 about a week ago. This "miracle" largely resulted from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's supportive comments about the platform and the Bonk memecoin project’s airdrop of 50% of its total supply to Solana users.

4H Chart of SOL/USDT as of 04/01/2023. Source: Binance