tl;dr
CryptoPunks and other established NFT projects are seeing renewed interest as leading altcoins, especially Ethereum and Solana, gain in price. The NFT market experienced its busiest trading day since February, with $26 million traded on Ethereum and $24.9 million the following day. Over half of Sund...
CryptoPunks and other established NFT projects are experiencing renewed interest as leading altcoins, especially Ethereum and Solana, see price gains. After a significant cooldown in the NFT market over recent years, Sunday marked the busiest trading day since February with $26 million worth of tokenized JPEGs exchanged across Ethereum’s ecosystem, followed by $24.9 million on Monday.
More than half of Sunday's volume stemmed from CryptoPunks.app, the official marketplace for the iconic collection of 10,000 pixelated avatars recognized by museums, auction houses, and luxury brands. Over the past week, CryptoPunks’ floor price surged 20% to 48 ETH, translating to a 45% rise to approximately $177,000 in USD terms, buoyed by Ethereum’s price increase. Trading activity also surged, with 174 NFTs sold, marking a 460% jump from the previous week.
In May, The Infinite Node Foundation, a new nonprofit, acquired the CryptoPunks intellectual property from Yuga Labs, aiming to preserve the collection and grow its community. Market sentiment is optimistic, with Myriad Markets users forecasting an 85% chance that the floor price will remain above 44 ETH through late July.
Other Ethereum-based collections have also enjoyed notable floor price increases over the past week: Pudgy Penguins rose 38% to $56,000, Mutant Ape Yacht Club jumped 26% to $6,300, and Fidenza NFTs—works by generative artist Tyler Hobbs—soared 64%. Despite hopes from some on social media that the recent volume spike could signal an NFT resurgence reminiscent of the pandemic-era boom, experts caution the rising activity lacks sustained momentum.
On Monday, OpenSea’s NFT trading volume climbed 44% to $9.5 million, while Blur experienced a massive 120% increase to $12.8 million. Solana-based NFTs also saw impressive gains: Mad Lads increased 27% to $6,800, Clarnosaurz jumped 47% to $2,100, and Solana Monkey Business Gen2 rose 43% to $4,000. Over the past week, Solana NFT sales on secondary markets spiked 59% to $9.3 million, while Ethereum NFT sales surged 50% to $105 million.
Bitcoin-based collectibles, despite a dip in trading volume, posted higher floor prices; Taproot Wizards rose 26% to $26,700, while Bitcoin Puppets grew 10% to $4,800. Although these developments highlight growing interest as Ethereum and Solana rally, no major collection has approached its all-time high floor price. Additionally, while recent daily trading volumes surpassed previous months, daily totals have eclipsed $50 million multiple times over the past year.