Cryptocurrency market is gradually recovering, but NFT is heading towards a collapse?

Is the Cryptocurrency Market Bouncing Back While NFTs Face an Imminent Collapse?

最近，加密货币行业整体情况有所回暖，市场上蔓延着较为乐观的情绪，因为自今年年初以来，比特币的价格已经翻了一番，到达35000美元附近。

与此同时，美国曼哈顿联邦法院判定，加密货币交易所FTX涉电汇诈骗、串谋诈骗、串谋洗钱等七项指控均成立，其90后创始人Sam Bankman-Fried或将面临115年的监禁。这让加密市场2022年发生的崩盘事件总算对公众有了一个交代。

NFT寒冬

似乎加密市场一切都在向好的方向发展，但如果我们将目光转向其细分赛道NFT上来，会发现这里的冬天却比以往任何时候都要寒冷。

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自2021年火爆出圈以后，NFT经历了过山车一般的发展历程，并且目前所处的下跌阶段还在持续。

本月初，全球最大NFT交易平台OpenSea宣布，该公司已解雇了约一半员工。OpenSea联合创始人兼首席执行官DevinFinzer发文称：“我们正在围绕‘OpenSea2.0’对团队进行重新定位，这是对我们产品的一次重大升级，包括基础技术、可靠性、速度、质量和体验。”

要知道，OpenSea是最早建立NFT交易市场的平台，类似于NFT领域的“亚马逊”，用户可以在OpenSea购买和出售加密艺术品、游戏道具、虚拟地产、域名、金融产品等各种NFT商品。

自食恶果的OpenSea

OpenSea在福布斯2022年最有价值的美国私有金融科技公司中，排名第8位。同年3月，该公司在2022年1月刚完成3亿美元C轮融资，估值已经高达133亿美元。但以目前的态势来看，其估值能达到去年的一半就谢天谢地了。

客观来说，OpenSea落得今天这个结局多少有些咎由自取。今年该平台停止支付NFT创作者版税的行为便引发过众怒，而之所以这样做，是为了应对Blur等竞争对手的崛起。

2022年，以Blur为代表的新兴NFT平台崛起，其特色是手续费低廉，主要面向专业交易者，在批量交易NFT上极具优势，并且承诺向高频交易用户空投代币奖励，因此交易量一度占到整个行业的70%。

面对Blur对市场份额的不断蚕食，OpenSea除了降低平台手续费外，还在今年8月31日起停止强制执行创作者版税征收政策。

Obviously, this behavior of going along with other platforms to cut creators’ royalties has damaged the relationship between OpenSea and many well-known NFT artists. Many creators have chosen to remove their NFT works.

The end result is that OpenSea is suffering the consequences, as trading users and creators continue to withdraw, OpenSea’s market share continues to decline. According to Dune data, OpenSea’s trading volume in September was only $73.14 million, the lowest level since July 2021, a steep drop of 98% from the peak of $4.85 billion at the beginning of 2022.

In addition, OpenSea’s plan to issue tokens has clearly been put on hold. The CEO of the company even ignorantly and fearlessly stated that layoffs are part of the “OpenSea 2.0” plan, but he did not come up with a specific plan to turn the situation around. There have long been rumors about problems with OpenSea’s corporate culture – a recent conviction of a former executive for insider trading reflects this.

Dawn has not yet arrived

Many of OpenSea’s problems are unique to the company, but it also faces common problems in the entire NFT market. The most prominent problem is that the idea of spending hundreds or even millions of dollars on a “digital monkey picture” is not appealing to most people. The industry consensus that empowers NFTs has been slow to materialize, so people are unwilling to pay for these useless JPG images.

Although some NFT collections such as “Bored Ape Yacht Club” or “CryptoPunks” have become blue-chip stocks in the field, their prices are also continuously falling. Due to many companies focused on short-term gains constantly introducing new and unpopular collections, the value of the NFT market is becoming increasingly diluted.

Of course, despite the market being somewhat quiet, NFTs do have broad prospects for application on the blockchain in terms of creating and transferring unique assets – especially in areas such as vouchers, equity certificates, and fan clubs. Even in the current collapse of the NFT art market, companies like Starbucks are still getting involved in this technology.

In conclusion, NFTs will continue to exist in one form or another, but it will take a long time or this scenario may never reappear if we want to see people spending millions of dollars on “digital monkeys” again.

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