Crypto users spent $2.7B minting NFTs in first half of 2022: Report

According to new market research published by blockchain data firm Nansen, crypto users spent 963,227 Ether (ETH), worth $2.7 billion, minting nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain in the first half of 2022. An overwhelming majority of minting took place on OpenSea.io. 

Minting occurred across 1.088 million unique wallet addresses on Ethereum during this period, Nansen said. In comparison, about $107 million worth of NFTs were minted on BNB Chain and $77 million for Avalanche. A total of 263,800 unique wallet addresses were involved in NFT minting on the two blockchains.

1/ Market participants spent 963,227 $ETH (approximately $2.7b) on minting NFTs in the first half of 2022.

So what did the NFT projects do with the money they raised?

Read our latest research here: https://t.co/ifgKdTnF9S

— Nansen (@nansen_ai) August 2, 2022

Sixty-nine NFT collections launched on May 22 alone, resulting in daily minting volume surpassing 120,000 ETH. The total number of NFT collections minted and sold on Ethereum during the first half of the year was 28,986. Over two-thirds of the NFT projects raised less than 5 ETH, although 140 collections raised well over 1,000 ETH. Cumulatively, the top five NFT collections on Ethereum accounted for 8.4% of overall minting. These include Pixelmon-Generation 1, Moonbirds, VeeFriends Series 2, Genesis Box and World of Women Galaxy. 

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About half the amount raised stayed with NFT projects, while the other half circulated to non-entity wallets. However, Nansen could only trace direct transfers from the NFT projects’ addresses to the immediate transaction addresses. Subsequent transactions to other counterparties were not captured, thus limiting possible conclusions on how funds were used after NFT drops.

Aside from research, Nansen is also known for index aggregates, such as the NFT-500, that track the performance of the top 500 NFT collections on Ethereum for both the ERC-721 and ERC-1155 token standards. The firm secured $12 million in investments from Andreessen Horowitz last year.