Off-chain: This year the NFT market has risen to $ 2.5 billion Art and Culture News

The non-fungible token (NFT) market has exploded this year, compared to $ 13.7 million in the first half of 2020 last year.

The non-fungible token (NFT) market rose in the second quarter, with sales of $ 2.5 billion this year, up from $ 13.7 million in the first half of 2020, according to market data.

NFT is a cryptographic asset that represents an intangible digital element, such as an image, video, or element in a game. Owners of NFTs are registered in the blockchain, allowing them to trade as a substitute for the digital asset that represents an NFT.

Sales volume has remained high this year after the NFTs exploded in popularity. Monthly sales volumes at OpenSea, NFT’s most important market, were on record in June.

Some NFT enthusiasts see it as a collection of intrinsic value because of its cultural significance, while others view it as an investment, speculating on rising prices.

Buyers are mostly between 10,000 and 20,000 a week since March, more than sellers, according to NonFungible.com, which includes NFT transactions in the Ethereum blockchain.

Calculations of total sales volume vary depending on NFT transactions.

DappRadar, which tracks sales across multiple blockchains, said it had a volume of less than $ 2.5 billion in the first half of 2021.

Both sites only track sales that occur in the blockchain, also known as a “chain” transaction. Some of the largest NFT sales, such as those at auction houses, do part of the transaction “outside the chain,” which means they need to be added to the data manually.

In March, the digital image was sold for $ 69.3 million as Christie’s NFT. No NFT sales have come close. The second most expensive NFT sale known was “CryptoPunk,” which grossed $ 11.8 million at Sotheby’s.

The U.S. National Basketball Association’s Top Shot market allows fans to buy and trade NFTs as outstanding videos, volumes have shrunk, and buyers dropped to 246,000 in June from 403,000 in March. The average price of a Top Shot “moment” dropped to $ 27 in June after reaching $ 182 in February.

But because some types of NFT are less popular, others take off.

Bored Ape Yacht Club, a single set of 10,000 digital monkeys, has become a hit among collectors. The average monkey was sold at OpenSean from July 1 for $ 3,6000, which is 1,574 percent of the April 215 sale price. Sales totaled $ 61 million, according to the founders of the US club Yuga Labs.