NFT volumes in Q1 2023 exceed Q4 2022, thanks to BLUR airdrop

SNEAK PEEK

  • NFT trading volumes spiked at the start of 2023, but things have turned slower in Q2.
  • The first week of May recorded the lowest number of sales and users.
  • Trading volumes decreased by 30% in April on various marketplaces.

In the first quarter of 2023, NFT trading volumes on Ethereum increased when compared to the previous quarter, thanks to the Blur token airdrop. 

Launched in October 2022, Blur NFT Marketplace scheduled its native token BLUR’s airdrop for February 14, 2023. The airdrop led to traction from airdrop hunters in Q1. 

Nansen’s data shows that NFT trading volume was more than double this year. Having said that, while NFTs worth $1.9 billion were traded in the last quarter of 2022, they were worth $4.5 billion in Q1 2023.

Though trading volumes surged more than twice, the total number of unique wallets trading NFTs jumped by 24.5% in the same duration. In Q1 2023, there were 13.9 million users, while the number stood at 11.2 million in Q4 2022.

According to this data, current users are trading at a higher volume instead of a considerable rise in new users, which is again the result of the BLUR token airdrop. 

Despite the yearly trend, a close look at NFT activity shows a slightly more bearish picture. In April, there was a 30% reduction in trading volumes on several marketplaces as compared to March. 

The situation went terrible in May, as Nansen reported both the lowest sales and users in the first week. The weekly NFT sales fell to over 370,000.

This month, the trading volumes have dropped to bearish levels for 2022, with 90,000 ETH traded weekly.

No doubt there’s a fall in ETH traded; trading volumes in USD terms are anyway because of Ethereum being bullish, which was trading below $1,300 in Q4 2022 and is now at $1,900.