NFT Market Experiences Decline; Courtyard Surpasses CryptoPunks
April 12, 2025 — By Vignesh Karunanidhi
The non-fungible token (NFT) market is witnessing a significant downturn as sales fell by 4.7% to $94.7 million, a decrease from the previous week’s $102.8 million, according to recent data from CryptoSlam. This decline comes amidst a broader slump in the cryptocurrency market, where major coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have also faced price drops.
Declining Sales and User Engagement
The NFT sector has not only seen a decrease in sales volume but also a notable drop in user engagement. The number of NFT buyers has plummeted by 77.9%, amounting to just 128,244 buyers, while NFT sellers have decreased by 75.2%, totaling 85,792. Furthermore, NFT transactions decreased by 6.3% to approximately 1.44 million.
The downturn in the NFT landscape aligns with Bitcoin’s recent decline to around $83,000 and Ethereum’s drop of 13.5% over the past week, now hovering around the $1,500 mark. The global cryptocurrency market currently stands at a capitalization of $2.63 trillion.
Ethereum Remains Dominant
Despite the overall drop, Ethereum remains the leading blockchain for NFT sales with $36.1 million, reflecting a 41.3% increase compared to the previous week. However, this rise was not enough to cushion declines experienced by other platforms. Polygon (POL) follows with $17.4 million in sales, showing a modest increase of 4.3%. Mythos Chain comes in third at $14.1 million, slightly up by 2%. In contrast, Solana (SOL) continues to struggle, reporting a steep decline of 33.4% to $6.5 million in sales. Immutable rounds out the top five with $5.5 million, marking a 15.4% rise.
This week has also seen notable changes in wash trading patterns, with Polygon now leading at $2.6 million—a dramatic 232.6% increase. In comparison, Ethereum’s wash trading decreased by 9.2% to $2.5 million.
Courtyard Dethrones CryptoPunks
In a surprising turn of events, Courtyard, an NFT collection on Polygon, has topped the sales chart, achieving $15.6 million in sales—a 6.1% rise week-over-week. This dethrones CryptoPunks, which has historically been a dominant NFT collection. CryptoPunks now holds the second position with $9.1 million in sales, having experienced a staggering surge of 168.3%. DMarket claims the third spot with $8.9 million, reflecting a 4.4% increase.
Notably, a newcomer, f(x) wstETH on Ethereum, has entered the NFT rankings, generating $5.8 million in sales. The top five is completed by Guild of Guardians Heroes, with sales totaling $3.7 million, up 29.4% from the prior week.
High-Value NFT Sales
Among the high-value NFT sales of the week, CryptoPunks #3100 fetched an impressive 4,000 ETH, equivalent to $6,042,922. Other significant sales included CryptoPunks #1182 for 142 ETH ($209,310), Pixel Vault Founders DAO #4 for 97.08 RETH ($161,511), and Autoglyphs #462 for 98.5 WETH ($149,724). Furthermore, CryptoPunks #5361 sold for 69.69 ETH, valued at $108,204. ## OpenSea’s Advocacy for Clarity on NFT Regulation
In related news, OpenSea, a prominent NFT marketplace, has reached out to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to clarify that NFTs should not be classified as “exchanges or brokers” under U.S. securities law. This appeal emphasizes that NFTs typically have only one seller per token, positioning OpenSea as a discovery platform rather than a traditional intermediary. OpenSea’s request follows a previous investigation, which the SEC dropped earlier this year.
As the NFT market continues to grapple with these challenges, stakeholders will be closely monitoring future trends and regulatory developments that may influence the industry.
For more updates on the evolving NFT landscape and cryptocurrency market, stay tuned.
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