Chainalysis NFT Market Report
Chainalysis NFT Market Report
Chainalysis NFT Market Report
In 2021, users sent at least $44.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency to ERC-721 and ERC-1155
contracts, the two types of Ethereum smart contracts associated with NFT marketplaces
and collections.
4,000,000,000 2,500
2,000
3,000,000,000
1,500
2,000,000,000
1,000
1,000,000,000
500
0 0
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 11/1/2021
Date
Notably, we see significant increases in both total value sent and average transaction size,
suggesting that NFTs as an asset category are gaining value as they attract new users.
There’s also a noticeable spike in total value sent beginning in the last week of August,
which appears to have been largely driven by the release of a new collection from the
popular NFT creator group Bored Ape Yacht Club. The second spike in late October and
early November appears to have been driven by the sale of one Cryptopunk NFT for $532
million. We’ll explore the rising value of NFT investments in more detail later in this report.
500,000,000 Meebits
0N1 Force
Transaction volume (USD)
Art Blocks
300,000,000
Cool Cats NFT
CrypToadz
200,000,000 CyberKongz
Hashmasks
Loot
100,000,000
MekaVerse
PUNKS Comic
0 Pudgy Penguins
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 CryptoPunks
CryptoPunks, which was established in 2017 well before the current NFT craze, has been
the most popular NFT collection during the time period studied, with more than $3 billion
in transaction volume since March 2021. Interestingly, we see some collections that
experienced brief but large spikes in transaction activity without ever gaining consistent
popularity. For instance, Hashmasks saw more than $380 million in transaction value
during the week of July 4, 2021. In no other week during the time period studied did the
collection see more than $95.7 million, and its average weekly transaction volume for
the entire time period studied was just under $21 million. We see a similar pattern with
Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 11/1/2021
Date
We see a strong mix of web visits from several regions, with Central & Southern Asia,
North America, Western Europe, and Latin America leading the pack. The numbers suggest
that like conventional cryptocurrency, NFTs have achieved global popularity, with no
region making up more than 40% of monthly web visits since March 2021.
As the most popular NFT marketplace by a comfortable margin, analysis of OpenSea can
tell us a great deal about NFT growth overall. Over 6,000 NFT collections on OpenSea
have undergone at least one transaction, including buying, selling, or minting. This
activity is trending upwards, as the number of active NFT collections — which we define
as those that have undergone at least one transaction in any given week — has risen
significantly since March 2021.
3,500
3,000
Number of active collections
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 11/1/2021
Date
The data shows that growth began to increase quickly in July 2021, rising steadily through
October. After a slight decrease in early November, growth picked up again and continued
through the end of the year. The number of active NFT collections sits at 3,264 at the end
of 2021, its highest figure yet, up from just 193 at the beginning of March.
Retail (<$10K USD) NFT Collector ($10K-$100K USD) Institutional (>$100K USD)
100%
Share of all NFT transfers
75%
50%
25%
0%
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 11/1/2021
Date
However, as we see above, larger NFT transactions are becoming more and more common.
As of the week of December 26, 2021, NFT collector-sized transactions, meaning those
between $10,000 and $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency, have risen to account for 10% of
all NFT transactions, compared to under 1% in early January. With an average number of
around 580 per week, institutional-sized transactions account for well under 0.6% of all
transfers.
However, if we think in terms of transaction volume rather than raw transfers, NFT
collector-sized and institutional-sized transactions play a much more prominent role.
Specifically, NFT collector-sized transactions account for the majority of NFT transaction
volume in 2021 at 60%. Institutional transactions (above $100,000) make up 30% of
activity, while retail-sized transactions make up 10%.
Retail (<$10K USD) NFT collector ($10K-$100K USD) Institutional (>$100K USD)
100%
Share of all NFT transaction volume
75%
50%
25%
0%
3/1/2021 5/1/2021 7/1/2021 9/1/2021 11/1/2021
Date
The data shows that the NFT market is far more retail-driven than the traditional
cryptocurrency market, where retail transactions make up a negligible share of all activity.
But how are NFT investors faring in the market?
Whitelisting isn’t just some nominal reward — it translates to dramatically better investing
results. OpenSea data shows that users who make the whitelist and later sell their newly-
minted NFT gain a profit 75.7% of the time, versus just 20.8% for users who do so without
being whitelisted. Not only that, but the data suggests it’s nearly impossible to achieve
outsized returns on minting purchases without being whitelisted. The chart below breaks
down sales of newly-minted NFTs into buckets based on the ROI the collector achieved,
expressed in multiples of the original investment, with whitelisted collectors who bought
during minting compared to those who did so without being whitelisted.
60%
Share of all sales by minting buyers
40%
20%
0%
)
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0)
5)
0)
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5)
0+
)
5
.0
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0.
.7
0.
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,5
50
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.
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5,
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ROI multiple
Overall, 78% of sales by unwhitelisted buyers later result in a loss on resale, with
59% resulting in a loss equal to or below 0.5x their initial investment. 78% of sales by
whitelisted buyers, on the other hand, result in a profit, with 51% resulting in a profit of
2x or more the initial investment. The data is clear: Whitelisting provides a significant
However, if you’re not on the whitelist, it’s significantly harder to turn a profit after
buying a newly-minted NFT. Of course, keep in mind that these numbers don’t account for
NFTs that have been minted, bought, and never resold. It’s possible that some of those
NFTs will be sold and ultimately turn a profit in the future, meaning the 28.5% figure –
representing NFTs minted and then sold at a profit – could rise over time.
100%
50%
25%
0%
500 1,000 1,500 2,000
Number of Collections
This concentration isn’t limited just to collections, but also includes the addresses doing
the flipping.
100% 125%
25%
25%
0% 0%
20% 40% 60% 80%
20% of user addresses on OpenSea account for 80% of secondary NFT sales, while just 5%
of all addresses account for 80% of profits made on secondary sales.
In order to investigate what separates the most successful NFT flippers from the rest,
in the next few charts, we separate all 23,000+ OpenSea user addresses that have ever
flipped 10 or more NFTs on the secondary market — meaning all sales of NFTs post-
purchase but not post-minting — into five quintiles based on the the percentage of all
profits realized from NFT flipping that they account for. Group 1 is the most successful
quintile, accounting for 85% of total profits made through NFT flipping, while Group 5 is
the least successful.
125
100
Average number of flips
75
50
25
0
5 4 3 2 1
Group
Addresses in Group 1 have bought and resold 105 NFTs on average, more than double the
average for Group 2 at 39. Interestingly, the relationship between investing success and
number of flips stops with Group 5, whose addresses have on average flipped slightly
more than addresses in Group 4, at 21 versus 18.
The data suggests that experience and practice may help investors become better at
spotting market inefficiencies and finding NFTs that are likely to increase in value.
Another reason for this finding may be that investors in Group 1 have more capital —
either when starting out or accumulated over time from successful flips, or perhaps a mix
of both — allowing them to buy and sell more frequently than other investors.
Another data point that seems counterintuitive but supports the idea that more up
front capital results in more NFT resale success: The most successful NFT flippers pay
significantly more on average for their initial purchase before selling.
1.25
Average purchase price (ETH)
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.25
0.00
5 4 3 2 1
Group
At 1.07 ETH per NFT, investors in Group 1 pay significantly more up front for NFTs they plan
to flip than those in any other group. Interestingly, Group 5 pays the second-highest up
front price per NFT at 0.71 ETH. The trend becomes even more pronounced if we focus on the
top 5% of NFT collector addresses, who account for 80% of all profits from NFT flipping.
2.0
Average purchase price (ETH)
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Bottom 95% Top 5%
That finding is reinforced by our next comparison: Below, we look at the number of unique
collections purchased by each group of NFT flippers.
30
Average number of unique collections
20
10
0
5 4 3 2 1
Group
The most successful NFT flippers invest in a diverse array of NFT collections. Addresses
in Group 1 have bought NFTs from 28 unique collections on average, compared to 17 for
Group 2. Unlike with the amount spent per purchase, the relationship between investor
success and number of unique collections purchased is perfectly linear — the number of
unique collections decreases as we look at each less successful group, with addresses
in Group 5 purchasing from just nine collections on average. This could be another
function of successful NFT collectors having more capital to deploy on a wider variety of
collections, but also suggests they may be better at surveying the market as a whole to
spot more opportunities.
Average share of total gains derived from best ever NFT flip by NFT
Flipping Group on OpenSea
60%
Percent of all gains from best ever flip
40%
20%
0%
-20%
5 4 3 2 1
Group
On average, Group 1 addresses’ have achieved 31% of their overall NFT gains from their
most successful flip, compared to 37% for Group 2. The less successful the investor, the
higher a percentage of their overall gains we see coming from their most successful flip,
with Group 4 receiving 52% of all gains from their most successful flip on average. Group 5
as a whole is not profiting, hence why the group’s figure on this chart is negative.
Hit rate: Average share of all NFT flips with gains realized by NFT
Flipping Group on OpenSea
80%
Average share of NFT flips resulting in
60%
40%
20%
0%
5 4 3 2 1
Group
Addresses in Group 1 make a profit on 72% of NFTs they flip. Group 2 is profitable on 70%
of its flips, Group 3 on 69%, and Group 4 on 66%. Group 5 sees a large drop off, making a
profit on only half of its flips, but overall there’s very little separation between Groups 1-4.
High hit rates aren’t necessarily surprising, as many investors likely opt to hold NFTs if
they know they can’t flip them for a profit. However, these numbers suggest that Group
1 most separates itself not by picking successful NFTs more often, but by flipping more
NFTs at a similar hit rate to the other groups. The chart below, which shows each group’s
average ROI on each NFT purchased, also tells us that while Groups 1-4 have similar
hit rates, Group 1’s hits result in significantly better returns — in other words, Group 1 is
unearthing the very best NFT opportunities.
3.0
2.0
ROI (multiple)
1.0
0.0
5 4 3 2 1
Group
On average, the collectors in Group 1 make an ROI of 2.9x their initial investment every
time they flip an NFT, compared to 1.9x for Group 2. Each group makes a successively
lower multiple on each investment, with Group 5 returning a loss of 0.9x its initial
investment on average.
But what else are the top NFT collectors doing? Let’s go beyond NFT activity specifically
and look at the overall receiving exposure for addresses in the top quintile of NFT flippers.
Stolen Funds
0.0% Decentralized Exchange Contract
34.1%
Smart Contract
24.3%
Other
0.5%
Mining Exchange
1.0% 15.1%
Lending Contract Gambling
9.0% 0.3%
This doesn’t look like the average wallet. Since much of the smart contract exposure is
likely due to the NFT contracts themselves, we’ll ignore that category. Even so, the top
NFT collectors transact with decentralized exchanges at a higher rate than the average
wallet, which typically has much more exposure to centralized exchanges. We also see
more exposure to lending contracts and token smart contracts, which are also associated
with DeFi usage. The data suggests that the most successful NFT users tend to use
the cutting edge DeFi protocols favored by bigger investors. We can ascertain this by
comparing platforms’ average transaction sizes — decentralized exchanges, for example,
have an average transaction size of $26,520 worth of cryptocurrency, versus $12,431 for
centralized exchanges.
Overall, the numbers above suggest that the best NFT collectors win largely by taking
more bites of the apple. By deploying more capital across a wider variety of NFT
collections, these collectors are able to spot more “big wins” and compile more profits
despite having a similar success rate to other collectors, save for those in the bottom
quintile of NFT trading performance, who achieve significantly worse results than all
other groups.
We saw a great example of this recently during minting for an NFT collection called The
Sevens. The Sevens is a collection of 7,000 NFTs that began minting on September 7, 2021
at 7pm UTC. Within just an hour after minting began, users had attempted over 26,000
failed transactions, resulting in over $4 million in fees.
$5,000,000
Cumulative gas fees (USD)
$4,000,000
$3,000,000
$2,000,000
$1,000,000
$0
0 0 0 0
:40:0 :0 0:0 :20:0 :40:0
18 19 19 19
21 21 21 21
/ 20 /20 / 20 /20
9 /7 9 /7 9/7 9/7
Most users who attempted failed transactions didn’t try again. But interestingly, several
addresses failed multiple times — some addresses ended up attempting over 100 failed
purchases, paying over $100,000 in gas fees.
2,000,000 15,000
1,500,000
Total fees paid (USD)
Number of addresses
10,000
1,000,000
5,000
500,000
0 0
1 2 3-5 6 - 10 11 - 25 26 - 99 100+
One way NFT creators could address this problem would be to mint NFTs on Layer 2
protocols — meaning NFT marketplaces or other dedicated services built on an underlying
blockchain — and then allow users who buy them to transfer them to Layer 1, which is
the blockchain itself. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlines what such a solution
could look like here, though we are unaware of any major projects whose NFTs have been
minted on Layer 2 today.
The data shows that a very small group of highly sophisticated investors rake in most of
the profits from NFT collecting. This is especially true in minting, where the whitelisting
process gives early supporters of collection access to lower prices that result in greater
profits. We also see possible evidence of the use of bots by investors looking to purchase
during minting events, which could shut out less sophisticated users, and even result in
failed transactions that cost them in fees. Potential investors should be aware of all these
facts before jumping into the NFT market.
Still, there are some strategies that appear to correlate with success. For instance, many
investors with enough capital to deploy invest frequently in a wide array of collections, as
this appears to lead to the highest profits — of course, the strategy is risky and investors
must be careful not to spend beyond their means.
We look forward to seeing how the NFT market evolves as more artists, creators,
celebrities, and even video game makers launch collections catering to their fans. For
more information on the NFT market and how Chainalysis can work with marketplaces to
ensure user safety, please contact us here.
Kim Grauer
Director of Research
Will Kueshner
Content Marketer
Henry Updegrave
Senior Content Marketing Manager
This material is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or
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