Solana and Bitcoin NFT trading hits record numbers

Bitcoin and Solana non-fungible token (NFT) market registered records in daily active traders (DAT) last week, according to the research blog OurNetwork. While Solana reached its all-time high of 59,300 DAT, Bitcoin registered a peak of 25,600 DAT.

Solana’s rising DAT number represents a fourfold increase from the approximately 15,000 daily traders earlier last week. The publication attributes this growth to the influx of wallets engaging in sub-$10 transactions on platforms like Magic Eden and Tensor. Over the past week, Magic Eden has captured a significant 74% of Solana’s trading volume market share and 38% of its trader market share, while Tensor has secured 18% of the volume and a dominant 61% of traders.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s NFT trading historical peak was attributed to the anticipation of the Runes protocol launch. However, the trader count experienced a sharp decline to around 7,000 the day following the launch. Magic Eden has been the primary hub for Bitcoin’s NFT activity, commanding 82% of both active traders and trading volume over the last seven days, with OKX trailing at 16% for the same metrics.

Ethereum still reigns, but numbers decline

Despite dominating in trading volume and daily active traders, Ethereum’s weekly NFT trader numbers have been in decline over the past two years, with less than 36,000 wallets engaging in trades last week. OurNetwork points out that this is a significant drawdown compared to the 218,000 seen in April 2022.

Similarly, the weekly volume has plummeted from the $1.4 billion peak last April to approximately $100 million per day currently.

Moreover, the Ethereum NFT landscape also shows changes when it comes to marketplace dominance. OpenSea and Blur rivalry was met by the rise of Magic Eden as a competitor since its Ethereum marketplace debut in February. Magic Eden has quickly garnered over 20% of Ethereum’s NFT volume in the last week alone.

Although Blur maintains a majority share with over 50% volume, OpenSea’s presence has diminished to 13.5% in the recent seven-day period. Yet, OpenSea still leads in trader count on Ethereum, attracting about 4,000 traders daily, compared to Blur’s 2,500 and Magic Eden’s under 600. Over the last two years, OpenSea has seen a dramatic 90% drop in its weekly trader base.

On the significant trades side, a transaction on the CryptoPunks NFT marketplace involved a 4,000 ETH purchase, valued at over $12 million, for a highly coveted alien punk. This sale propelled CryptoPunks to the second-highest platform by volume on Ethereum for that day, with only Blur surpassing it with $15.2 million in volume.