Bitcoin NFTs fall by 60% after December boom

• 2024 has seen a decrease in NFT activity on the Bitcoin network.
• Due to low activity, there has been a decline in demand for blockspace by Inscriptions.

Monthly NFT sales volume on the Bitcoin [BTC] network plummeted by over 60% in January following December’s record-breaking highs, data from CryptoSlam showed. 

Data from the NFT analytics platform showed that the Bitcoin network outpaced Ethereum [ETH] as the blockchain with the highest NFT sales volume in December 2023.

While NFT sales volume on the former totaled $881 million, the latter recorded a sales volume of $353 million.

In November of the same year, NFT sales on the Ethereum network fell behind that of the Bitcoin network by almost 10%.

This marked the first time in history that the latter would record a higher monthly sales volume than the former. 

However, with a decline in NFT trading activity on the Bitcoin network this month, its sales volume has fallen behind Ethereum. 

According to data from CryptoSlam, with two days till the end of January, NFT sales transactions worth $314.2 million have been conducted on Bitcoin.

On the other hand, Ethereum has registered a sales volume of $328.4 million in the last 28 days. 

Goodbye Ordinals?

AMBCrypto reported earlier that the surge in NFT activity on the Bitcoin network in November and December 2023 was primarily driven by the general increase in interest in inscriptions and Ordinals on the blockchain.

This manifested in the high fees users paid to mint inscriptions on the blockchain.

For example, on the 10th of December 2023, the chain recorded a single-day high fee of $10 million as total transaction fees paid to mint inscriptions on the network.

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However, with the year so far marked by a decline in interest in this digital asset class, there has been a corresponding dip in the fees spent daily to mint inscriptions. 

According to data from a Dune Analytics dashboard by Data Always, minting fees peaked at $5 million on the 14th of January and have since declined by 83%. 

As of the 28th of January, inscription minting fees totaled $848,000.

Source: Dune Analytics

As Inscription activity craters on the Bitcoin network, there has been a decline in the demand for blockspace for non-traditional transactions.

AMBCrypto’s examination of Dune Analytics’ dashboard showed that weekly demand for blockspace for Inscriptions on the blockchain has dropped by 33% since the year began.

Source: Dune Analytics