In this week’s newsletter, non-fungible token platform Magic Eden is launching its own token to expand its business. The Runes protocol on Bitcoin has generated $162.4 million in fees in four months. Plus, find out what Web3 pros think of the recent sale of the most expensive CryptoPunk. In other news, weekly NFT volumes have turned positive.
Bitcoin Runes records 15.6 million NFT transactions in four months
Runes, an NFT protocol on Bitcoin, generated $162.4 million in fees from over 15.6 million transactions in four months. Data from Dune Analytics shows that the protocol often recorded over 300,000 daily transactions in its first two months.
As of April 23, Runes users accounted for 81.3% of the total bandwidth of the Bitcoin network as investors performed over a million transactions through minting, etching, transferring, and issuing.
Magic Eden launches ME token for cross-chain trading
NFT marketplace Magic Eden has announced the launch of its native token that aims to improve cross-chain trading, integrate decentralized applications, and drive the expansion of its NFT platform. The NFT platform claimed that the token is designed to improve DApps by facilitating cross-chain trading.
The NFT trading platform also plans to integrate the token to fuel the growth of its ecosystem. They also said that users will be incentivized to trade assets on the largest chains.
$24 million CryptoPunk sale shows either “NFTs are over” or “this is the bottom”
After the most expensive CryptoPunk NFT changed hands, Web3 experts speculated that the piece had lost a lot of value. Executives unanimously stated that the NFT was sold at a loss as the seller did not disclose the trade details.
Due to the poor performance of one of the most valuable NFT collections, some believe this means the end for digital collectibles. Andreas Brekken, CEO and founder of trading platform SideShift.ai, believes that at this point it is either “NFTs are over” or “this is the bottom.”
NFTs show signs of life as weekly volumes turn positive
Despite the negative comments, seven-day sales figures for NFT collectibles have been on the rise after a series of declines this year. On August 26, CryptoSlam data showed that NFTs performed well on the top five blockchains, with Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Mythos Chain all seeing increasing weekly sales figures.
However, Bitcoin saw a slight downward trend, with the weekly sales volume of Bitcoin-based NFTs declining by 7.01%.
Additionally, there was an increase in weekly buyers of NFTs. Data showed that there were over 500,000 NFT buyers in the week leading up to August 26, a 37% increase.
Thanks for reading this summary of the week’s key developments in the NFT space. Come back next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively developing space.
