Notice of a big chill on the cryptocurrency market! In mid-May, bitcoin and ether have indeed fallen by about 20%, while Terra-UST, a currency supposed to be stable since pegged to the dollar, has lost 90% of its value. These upheavals have affected, by ricochet, the market of non-fungible token (NFT), these digital property certificates inscribed in the blockchain (a cryptography-based information storage and transmission technology).
After reaching more than $44 billion (41 billion euros) in revenue in 2021, these non-fungible (non-duplicable and totally unique) tokens backed by cryptocurrencies show a 75% decrease in spending volume in the first quarter, according to the Chainalysis monitoring platform. “In the first quarter, 20.9 million transactions were made in the months when ether was on the rise, deciphers Ethan McMahon, economist at Chainalysis. On the other hand, as soon as the prices fell, the volume contracted to 12.7 million exchanges. »
The impact is all the more significant because, according to the Hiscox Group, 95% of NFT buyers who have spent more than $ 25,000 act not for the love of art but in the hope of a quick return on investment. For Olivier Lerner, author, with Sophie Lanoë, of the book NFT, Gold mine (Books on Demand, 146 pages, 16.99 euros), this volatility discourages a public looking for long-term values. “But on the other hand, he adds, this is an excitement for another audience that wants to resell, buy, do business by playing on two levers: the yoyo of cryptocurrencies and the increase in the value of the NFT. »
“Holy correction”
The lack of liquidity, however, has led investors to sometimes sell for scrap. On May 18, the floor price of pieces from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection dropped by 25%, falling below the $ 200,000 mark, from $420,000 at the beginning of the month. ” The gaming sector “play to earn” [qui offrent aux utilisateurs des récompenses sous la forme de NFT] and sales of plots of metavers, still far too immature, take a hell of a correction”, notes the young collector Brian Beccafico, recalling that “upstart projects are breaking the bank”.
Sina Estavi knows something about it. The CEO of the Oracle Bridge platform had acquired the NFT of the first tweet in history, from Jack Dorsey, for $ 2.9 million, in March 2021. A year later, he hoped to resell it with a phenomenal tumble, $ 48 million, no less. Miscalculation: Bids for this allegedly historic tweet today cap at $20,000… “This NFT might be able to sell at the next euphoria, but very far from the purchase price”, predicts Quentin de Beauchesne, co-founder of the start-up Ownest, at the initiative of the CryptoFR community, focused on cryptocurrency issues.
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