The Block Data Dashboard reported that NFT trading volume has already reached $6.13 billion this month alone. Therefore, the NFT volume grew 129% in January 2022 compared to December 2021.
Monthly NFT volume has exceeded expectations after growing 129% in the first month of 2022
Many in the NFT space correlate this growth to the launch of LooksRare. LooksRare is a new NFT marketplace that launched on January 10th. Despite being a new platform, it’s already standing out from the crowd and becoming a serious contender in the NFT space.
LooksRare poses a threat to OpenSea – the world’s largest NFT marketplace. Recently, the latter has been hit by a series of mishaps that have negatively impacted its user base. On the other hand, LooksRare is becoming an attractive OpenSea alternative due to its LOOKS tokens.
Creators, traders, and collectors are eligible to earn LOOKS tokens. This is because LooksRare users earn LOOKS tokens when buying and selling NFTs. Additionally, they can earn rewards by staking the token on the LooksRare.
Despite this positive growth, The Block Research pointed out that the majority of the new NFT marketplace’s trading volume is due to wash trading; a form of market manipulation in which an investor simultaneously sells and buys items to drive up volume and prices.
Aside from Ethereum marketplaces, the total NFT sales on Solana exceeded $1 billion in all-time volume. Meanwhile, Coinbase is getting in the game by creating its own NFT marketplace. Its soon-to-be-launched NFT marketplace is highly anticipated by NFT enthusiasts; especially after Coinbase announced its partnership with Mastercard, which enables anyone with a Mastercard card to buy NFTs.
