NFTs were one of the defining financial and artistic trends of 2021. Many artists and crypto enthusiasts have high hopes that the wave of popularity that NFTs experienced will continue well into 2022.
Unfortunately, compared to January, the statistics for NFTs look rather disappointing. There were 769 609 NFT buyers on markets, according to statistics provided by CryptoSlam.
The dip below 800, 000 is the first time since October that NFTs have faced a reduction in revenue and engagement from the community. The amount of buyers seems to be down by 12%, and the $2.6 billion worth of sales is 40% less than in January.
The Reasons For The Pullback
According to many crypto and financial experts, pullbacks are a natural part of any market sector that experiences periods of massive investment and engagement by the consumer base followed by short-term periods of recession.
Many point out that the extent to which excitement has fallen for NFTs appears larger because our last reference point was January when they experienced a record-high number of buyers – 904,135 and a record-high revenue – $5 billion for OpenSea alone.
Finally, some point out that the current geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine has affected market confidence, which has directly impacted NFT marketplaces and other sectors of the economy.
Although it may seem minor, the engagement of many in the NFT community is dependent on money, and there were a lot of instances where people took away from their wallets to support the Ukrainian government or sold valuable parts of their collections.
Global Search Trends May Be Worrying
Taking the interest for NFTs of last week, we can see a drop by 60-70% compared to the peak they experienced towards the end of January. Although interest remains high in some nations such as the US, other countries have seen a drastic fall in search for anything related to NFTs.
Japan, a country where people are usually heavily involved with technology, is one strange example because the government seems to show the lowest interest in NFTs. The statistics came when the online retail giant Rakuten launched its NFT marketplace.
Many experts claim that financial trends may be complicated but, it’s easier to see how attention and search history results have shifted away from NFTs at times when many people are primarily worried about the current conflict in Ukraine and how it may affect them.
