NFTs Hit $17B in Trading in 2021, Up 21,000% 

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) made their mark in 2021, with sales, profits and buyers surging exponentially over 2020, according to a report from NFT data company Nonfungible.com, done in collaboration with L’Atelier BNP Paribas. 

The trading of NFTs last year hit more than $17 billion, up by 21,000% over 2020’s total of $82 million. Over 2.5 million crypto wallets belonged to people holding or trading NFTs in 2021. In 2020, that number was just 89,000. 

While NFT buyers numbered 75,000 in 2020, a year later, buyers soared to 2.3 million. Sellers of NFTs also spiked, going from 32,000 in 2020 to 1.2 million in 2021, according to the report. 

See also: SEC Probes NFT Market for Possible Illegal Tokens

NFT investors also brought in bigger profits in 2021 compared to 2020, generating $5.4 billion. More than 470 wallets nailed profits topping $1 million, the report indicated.

Ethereum is the central blockchain used for NFT transactions, with 78% market share. Ronin trails with 19%, followed by Flow and Immutable X with 6% a piece. 

Collectibles took in the largest sales, with $8.4 billion, followed by gaming NFTs with $5.2 billion in sales. One of the largest NFT sales to date is a $69 million collage by the digital artist Beeple, which was auctioned at Christie’s. 

Read more: Retail Investor Interest in NFTs, Metaverse Lowest Since October, Report Says

“We’ve seen exponential growth over the past year,” Gauthier Zuppinger, co-founder of Nonfungible.com, told CNBC.

Nonfungible.com’s data for 2021 total transaction volume was lower than other data estimates. For example, Chainalysis put the total at over $40 billion.

The difference comes down to the methodology used for measuring NFT trading volume. Zuppinger told CNBC that Nonfungible.com uses its own methodology so that its resulting data ignores transactions involving bots and wash trading — when an investor buys and sells the same security investment at the same time to artificially inflate the market.

This year, Zuppinger said he doesn’t anticipate that NFT transactions will skyrocket again. Weekly averages so far this year have been roughly $687 million, he told CNBC. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the weekly average was $620 million.