OpenSea: Ethereum and Polygon NFTs Plunge – What’s the Reason Behind It?

by James · May 2, 2023

Ethereum and polygon-based NFTs on OpenSea ended April with their lowest sales volume to date.
Blur continues to outpace OpenSea as market share grows.

According to data from Dune Analyticsthe sales volume of Ethereum [ETH] and polygon [MATIC]-based NFTs on the leading marketplace OpenSea fell to the lowest so far at the end of April 2023.

Information from the on-chain data provider revealed that Ethereum-based NFT sales on the market rose to a nine-month high of $643.61 million at the end of February. However, with a 4.63% market-wide decline in NFT sales in March, OpenSea ended Q1 2023 with a 40% decline in sales volume of its Ethereum-denominated NFTs.

Still down in April, it fell another 26%, as sales volume over the 30-day period totaled $285.31 million.

Source: Dune Analytics

NFTs in Q1

After a record NFT sales volume of $109.12 million in February, sales of polygon-based NFTs on OpenSea ended the first quarter of the year with a massive 98% decline. With even less trading activity in April, this fell a further 98%. During that 30-day period, sales volume was just $34,109 per Dune Analytics data.

Source: Dune Analytics

The general market decline in the number of NFTs sold in March continued into April as the number of Ethereum and Polygon-based NFTs sold on OpenSea fell sharply. In terms of Ethereum-denominated NFTs on OpenSea, 585,303 NFTs were sold in April.

This represented a 28% decrease from the 817,971 total NFTs sold in March and a 49% drop from the 1.13 million Ethereum-based NFTs sold at the beginning of the year.

Source: Dune Analytics

As for Polygon NFTs on OpenSea, sales fell by 99% in April, with only 331 NFTs sold compared to 35,337 NFTs sold in March. According to Dune Analytics, this represented the lowest monthly count of polygon-shaped NFTs sold on OpenSea since June 2021.

Source: Dune Analytics

OpenSea remains in Blur’s shadows

Since the start of the year, OpenSea has faced intense competition from Blur, whose market share has grown tremendously since it became operational in October 2022.

According to data from DappRadarwhile OpenSea recorded a quarterly increase of 68.41% in trading volume in Q1 2023, in March trading volume fell by 35%, and market dominance fell to 22%, the lowest since February 2021.

At the time of writing, OpenSea’s share of the NFT market has fallen to 20.2%. Blur’s market share, on the other hand, was 68%, according to data from Dune Analytics.