NFT and crypto trading analytics site DappRadar made a surprising announcement yesterday. During a bear market, merchants invested more than $311 million in sales volume in virtual worlds in the first quarter of 2023. What helped cause this surge in the purchase of virtual world NFT projects?
Image Credit: DappRadar
What caused $311 million in sales volume for virtual worlds in the first quarter?
DappRadar attributes most of the record sales volume to Yuga Lab’s Otherside. The metaverse NFT project recorded a trading volume of $222 million, representing a 237% increase in trading volume from the previous quarter.
This market frenzy came after Yuga Lab announced a date for their “Second Journey” to the Other Side. The NFT community will get a new look at their next metaverse on March 25. The previous sneak peek was a hit, and many merchants are betting that Yuga will also impress with tomorrow’s second look at The Other Side.
NFT trading on Blur is also responsible for the high trading volume, DappRadar reports. The disruptive NFT platform pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the NFT ecosystem with its latest airdrop, and the window to qualify for its next round of airdrops is running now. To qualify, merchants must bid on the collections and list the NFTs near the project floors. Free money is always a compelling proposition. Not surprisingly, traders are buying as Blur’s order books are flooded with market activity.
Airdrop farmers focused on a particular project, for example. MG Land, a metaverse project that allows users to meet friends and play games in their virtual world, posted trading volume of more than $60 million in the first quarter. This $60 million volume was higher than the volumes of the well-known virtual land projects Axie Infinity, Sandbox, and Decentraland.
NFT traders used Blur’s zero-royalty platform to launder MG Lands’ business assets back and forth. Many critics pointed to MG Land’s business activity as an example of the artificial market dynamics created by Blur’s airdrop campaign, complaining that buyers and sellers had no interest in the actual project itself.
These statements seem correct. Blur disabled the ability for traders to earn points by buying and selling MG Land, and the project floor immediately plunged to 0.03 eth after peaking at 0.15 eth in early March.
What does the future hold for NFT trading in virtual worlds?
The trading volume of virtual worlds does not seem like an isolated phenomenon. In 2021, investors poured $3.7 billion into metaverse and blockchain gaming projects. That number almost doubled to $7.6 billion in 2022. This year has been tough for the markets. Many economists are predicting recessions around the world as central banks struggle to reduce inflation amid crises in the banking industry. However, with over $500 million invested in Q1 2023, there seems to be plenty of appetite for exposure to the growing sectors of metaverse projects and blockchain gaming.
Image Credit: Dappradar
Humanity seems destined to become more digitally native over time as a species. It seems inevitable, therefore, that we will spend more and more time in virtual worlds. As we do so, we will also continue to place more and more emphasis on owning digital assets in our metaverses. For these reasons and as data from DappRadar indicates, it is clear that trading NFTs in virtual world projects will continue to be big business.
All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFTevening.com are not recommendations.
This article is educational material.
As always, do your own research before making any type of investment.
