NFT Sales Rises by 21,000% to $17.6 billion in 2021

The non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace is booming with sales jumping by more than 200 times in 2021, according to a new report which also highlights how NFTs have become precisely that, a marketplace.

Sales of NFTs jumped 21,000 per cent to more than $17.6 billion (almost €16 billion) in 2021, up from $82 million (€74 million) a year earlier according to the report from NFT data company Nonfungible.com, developed in partnership with BNP Paribas-owned research firm L’Atelier.

NFTs are unique digital assets, which can be thought of as digital collectibles that include art, gaming, or other creative products that are recorded on a blockchain or digital ledger.

But the market has been criticised for being a bubble and the report shows it is exactly a buyers’ market.

The number of buyers rose almost 2,962 per cent last year, while the number of sellers increased by 3,669 per cent.

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The report also found NFTs were being kept 48 days on average in 2021 before being sold, compared with 156 days the year before.

The most valuable NFTs

Last year, a token representing a collage by the digital artist Beeple sold for a record $69 million (€62 million) at the auction house Christie’s.

The most popular category of NFTs was collectibles, which accounted for $8.4 billion (€7.6 billion) worth of sales.

NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 digital collectibles on the Ethereum blockchain have also spiked in popularity, boasting a 7-day sales volume of $32.2 million (€28 million).