NFTs Outpaced Ether's Gains in January
Indexes tracking non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have increased nearly 10% this month, surpassing the growth of ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency in which many NFTs are denominated, which has risen just over 2%. Nansen's NFT-500 index and the Blue Chip 10, both tracking valuable NFTs, have added around 9.35% year-to-date. Animoca Brands founder Yat Siu attributes this to the maturity and diversity of the NFT space and the departure of speculators. Despite the rally, the average price of an NFT has fallen 13% to $107, while the number of transactions has increased 30%. Sales volume is down 36% to $1.1 billion for the month, with wash trading accounting for 39% of all volume. The CoinDesk Culture & Entertainment Select Index (CNES), including metaverse tokens Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and Decentraland, has dropped 22%.
