Optimism [OP] NFTs can play a key role in the network’s revival, here’s how

• Optimism’s NFTs drove large amounts of activity to Optimism.
• Interest in OP declined, while network dApps underperformed.

The optimism [OP] the protocol has not been so good lately. With Arbitrum [ARB] with taking large market shares, and new players like StarkNet and zkSync Era encroaching on the L2 space, the future of Optimism has looked bleak for quite some time.

Realistic or not, here is OP’s market value in BTC’s terms

There is still some hope for the OP

However, there has recently been a massive increase in interest in Optimism NFTs. According to Artemis’ data, week-to-week activity on optimism increased by 522.87%, which was driven by NFTs on the protocol.

See more

Here’s what’s trending in crypto 📈

👇 pic.twitter.com/zNQdsuSd4Q

— Artemis 🏹 (@Artemis__xyz) 12 May 2023

Due to this increase in activity, the fees generated by Optimism increased from 61.39 ETH to 117.12 ETH, according to Dune Analytics’ data. A spike in the protocol’s total gas consumption was also observed.

This increase in activity on the network was not temporary either. Data indicated that the retention rate among active addresses on Optimism increased during this period.

Source: Dune Analytics

On the other hand, optimism also became popular on the social front. Lunar Crush’s data showed that the number of social engagements for the protocol increased by 82.2% over the last three months. In addition, the number of social mentions against optimism increased by 448.5%.

Despite the increase in activity, the weighted sentiment around Optimism remained negative. This suggested that Optimism still had a long way to go to sway public opinion in favor of the protocol.

Source: Sentiment

As for the DeFi market, Optimism’s dApps didn’t fare particularly well. One of the most popular dApps on the Optimism network, Synthetix, witnessed a major drop in interest.

This was demonstrated by the decreasing number of unique active wallets on the network, which fell by 13.12% in the last week. Subsequently, the volume of transactions on Optimism fell drastically.

Source: Dapp Radar

The OP token didn’t see green either. Since testing the $2.35 resistance level on April 26, the price of OP fell by 28.91%.

Is your portfolio green? Check out the Optimism Profit Calculator

A look at the daily charts revealed that the OP’s RSI increased in recent days, reaching 47.64 at press time. Thus, the token could see bullish momentum going forward.

However, the RSI reading of 47.64 at press time was still below the overbought level of 70, indicating that there may still be room for further upside.

Source: TradingView