blockworks.co
$NFT marketplace-related utility and governance tokens took a beating Tuesday, cementing itself as one of the industry’s worst-performing categories on the day as the broader market’s rally hits pause.
Tokens tied to $NFT marketplaces Blur, LooksRare, SuperVerse, Rarible, X2Y2 and Sudoswap have fallen deeper in the red on a 24-hour basis as interest in the niche digital asset sector has begun to taper off.
Governance tokens for digital collectibles marketplaces fell between 4 to 16%, including SuperVerse’s (SUPER), Blur’s recently launched BLUR, Rarible’s (RARI) and Sudoswap’s SUDO.
Despite Blur’s booming volumes of late amid “speculative” tokenomics, Andrii Yasinetsky, chief executive of $NFT data firm Mnemonic, told Blockworks the unwinding interest is expected.
“It’s just the reflection of a broader sentiment that people got tired of these trading-focused schemes,” Yasinetsky said. “The market wants to see broader adoption of Web3 and NFTs through all kinds of consumer experiences now.”
Ethereum-based token SUDO launched 60 million tokens via an airdrop last week around the same time as Blur’s token launch. SUDO is down about 26% since Feb. 19 while Blur is still posting green — good for about 60% over the last seven days.
Decentralized $NFT marketplace utility tokens of LooksRare and X2Y2 also shed between 6% and 13% on the day, CoinGecko data show. Both are down 23% and 56%, respectively, on a weekly basis.
It comes as bitcoin (BTC) shunned resistance near $25,000 on Tuesday after springing to life last week. Bitcoin is up more than 14% on a weekly basis — but remains down about 2% on the day after retreating from local highs not seen since August of last year.
Also in the last 24 hours, the industry’s total market value has fallen 2.2% to $1.15 billion from 1.18 billion — while bitcoin inflows to exchange wallets jumped 40% on Monday, data provided by IntoTheBlock show.
Surges in incoming exchange transactions often dovetail with episodes of heightened market turbulence. The correlation may indicate that some holders are seeking to book a profit by liquidating their assets on centralized exchanges