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Ethereum non-fungible token (NFT) total transactions fell to a new low in August due to a reduced interest in digital collectibles projects housed in its ecosystem.
Ethereum NFTs continue to dominate the digital arts industry. With that said, the blockchain saw decreased activity when it comes to total transactions of NFTs over the past month. After seeing more than one million transactions each month between April and July, NFTs transactions on the soon-to-be proof-of-stake (PoS) network dipped to 998,433 in August.
Unique buyers plunge to nine-month lows
Much of this stemmed from a further reduction in unique buyers from 229,930 in July to 199,454 in August. This was the lowest figure since the 152,064 unique buyers in November 2021.
The highest-selling NFTs on Ethereum from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) to Moonbirds, in turn, also saw a significant decline in unique buyers. BAYC unique buyers reached a 16-month low of 263 making up 438 transactions.
CryptoPunks, the third-highest selling NFTs of all time saw 103 unique buyers which corresponded to 159 total transactions. Other well-known projects such as Otherdeeds from the Otherside Metaverse also saw a three-month low in unique buyers from 20,514 in May to 1,934 in August which also corresponded to 3,778 total transactions, another three-month low.
Solana surpassed Ethereum in NFT total transactions
Ronin, the maker of Axie Infinity, which is the most successful NFT of all-time in terms of sales, processed 10,455 transactions while Flow, the blockchain that hosts NBA Top Shot and NFL ALL DAY saw 648,169 transactions.
Total NFT transactions on Polygon and Wax were 556,791 and 495,801 respectively. Within the same period, Solana was the only chain that surpassed Ethereum with nearly 1.6 million transactions.
ETH not performing well in the month leading up to Merge
Many ETH holders felt the project would regain some lost ground in August in the lead up to the Merge in September. Unfortunately, total value locked, NFT sales volume, and ETH price all tumbled this past month.
Ethereum TVL shed $3 billion ahead of The Merge after opening and closing in August with $37 billion and $34 billion respectively.
Ethereum continues to decline in TVL so far in September, and this has caught the attention of some of the major players in the industry.
“The total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum protocols has slumped by 5.50% to $32.92 billion in the past 24 hours, showcasing that investors’ focus has been diverted from the forthcoming Merge to the current global macroeconomic outlook. While the factors depressing the price of Ethereum are ominous, many are hopeful that the transition to Proof-of-Stake will help revive all of the protocol s metrics. While it is true that ‘The Merge’ will spell a new era that can make investors tilt more favorable to Ethereum compared to its archrival, Bitcoin with respect to its lowered energy consumption, in the short term, the coin cannot be isolated from inflationary pressures as other coins are experiencing. However, in the long term, Ethereum has the right fundamental and technical backing to support a renewed drive back up to its previous all-time high (ATH) above $4,891,” said Ego Huang, the CEO of Deepcoin.
Ethereum NFT sales also tested a 13-month low in August after generating approximately $497 million. This was the lowest since July 2021’s figure of $410 million.
ETH, the native asset used for transactions on the chain traded below the resistance level of $2,100 throughout the month, and it is yet to surpass the mark in September.