The nft lending market hit a record $2.13 billion in the first quarter, a 43.6% quarter-on-quarter increase, with five of the top six platforms seeing higher volumes.
The non-fungible token (nft) lending market has seen its leaders solidify their positions, with total nft lending volume rising to a quarterly high of $2.13 billion in the first quarter, representing growth quarter-on-quarter of 43.6%, according to nft-lending-platforms” target=”_blank” rel=””>data published by CoinGecko.
Data shows that January witnessed a record $900 million in total monthly nft lending volume, surpassing the previous peak of $850 million in June 2023. Among the top gainers, Blend emerged as the leader, capturing a staggering market share of 92.9%. with a monthly loan volume of $562.33 million in March alone.
“Even though ethereum nft collections dominate nft lending originations, the potential impact of the growing popularity of bitcoin Ordinals on the nft lending market remains an area of interest.”
CoinGecko
Other players in the nft lending space, such as Arcade and NFTfi, have also seen growth, although they represent a significantly smaller market share, capturing 2.8% ($16.94 million in volume) and 2.2% ($13.3 million in volume) respectively. Further down the hierarchy, X2Y2, BendDAO, and Parallel Finance (formerly ParaX) have smaller market shares of 0.8%, 0.8%, and 0.5%, respectively.
To encourage greater user participation, nft lending platforms are implementing new incentives to increase trading volumes. For example, in late February, Pantera Capital-backed Arcade unveiled its “Clash of Clans” airdrop initiative, aiming to distribute ARCD tokens among 4,000 wallets, each of which can claim 750 ARCD tokens. . Similarly, other exchanges like X2Y2 and BendDAO have also launched their own tokens for their community members.