Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around for a while, but only a few people were aware of them until last year. As blockchain technology took the world by storm in 2021, NFTs, too, rose up.
NFT trading is developing at an exponential rate now that it has become somewhat widespread thanks to the advent of NFT platforms. The method of purchasing NFTs has also grown simpler, resulting in more acceptance of NFTs by regular users.
With cryptocurrency exchanges supporting NFTs, the number of individuals buying and selling these one-of-a-kind things is only likely to increase.
So in today’s post, I’ve compiled a summary of some of the most essential data concerning NFTs. We have got insights for everyone; whether you’re looking to get started or are already in this field, this post is sure to blow you away. Let’s get into it, shall we?
What are NFTs
Digital assets with unique codes and information are known as NFTs.
These tokens are digital representations of physical or virtual goods that may be used to represent almost anything.
The phrase “non-fungible” refers to the fact that these tokens are one-of-a-kind and cannot be replaced.
They function similarly to limited-edition goods. If there are only 100 pieces of ‘something’ and even if you purchase two pieces, they both are unique and distinct from one another and may have different values. Digital currencies on the other hand such as Bitcoin, are not the same – each Bitcoin has the same value as any other.
NFT Statistics at a Glance
Take a look at our top picks from the complete post in this section. We do however recommend you to go through the post if you can to better understand the state of NFTs in 2023 and the predictions for the future.
- “The Meg” is the most valued NFT as of 2023, with a market value of more than $91 million.
- $1.95 billion worth of NFTs were traded in the month of April 2023.
- There has been a sale of $15.2 million in the NFT art segment as of April 2023.
- More than half of all NFT sales are for less than $200.
- Asia has the top 5 nations with the highest NFT adoption rates.
- More than 70% of Americans have no idea what an NFT is.
- NFT called ‘Doge’ fetched $4 million in value. It remains the most expensive meme NFT of all time.
- NFTs are collected by 23% of Gen Y (millennials) in the United States.
- NFT collectors are three times more likely to be males than females.
- The NFT collectables market is the most rapidly expanding among others.
- Each month, 250,000 users trade NFTs on the OpenSea platform.
NFT Statistics in depth
Let us have a look at the NFT statistics in a detailed manner below.
1.) Over $24 billion was spent on NFT platforms in 2022. (Decrypt)
The NFT industry reached generated $24.7 billion in sales in 2022, However, it could not surpass traditional art sales. These traditional sales reached $67.8 billion in 2022.
2.) 10,000 wallets interact with NFTs on any given day as of 2023. (Bankless Times)
Over 12,000 NFT sales occur every day.
It has also been disclosed that there are over 10,000 active wallets engaging with NFTs every day, as well as approximately 6,000 unique purchasers.
3.) In 2021, about 28.6 million wallets traded NFTs. (DappRadar)
NFT sales volumes totaled roughly $24.9 billion in 2021; as per the source, this was a tremendous rise from roughly $94.9 million in 2020.
Notably, the number of wallets trading in NFTs expanded considerably in 2021, from roughly 545,000 in 2020 to around 28.6 million in 2021. The most valuable items were usually the most volatile.
4.) The NFT Market will reach $80 Billion in worth by 2025
As per Jefferies’ report, The NFT Industry will hit a valuation of $80 billion US dollars by the year 2025
5.) The NFT market grew nearly tenfold from 2018 to 2020 (Statista)
As per the source, Around 1,000 to 3,000 unique wallets bought NFTs on most days in April and May 2021.
In April, there were over 30,000 unique purchasers, and in May, there were about 25,000. This is a tiny decrease from March’s 39,000 unique purchasers, but it represents a huge rise over 2020 when most months had fewer than 10,000 unique customers.
6.) Cryptopunks are responsible for 5 of the top 20 NFT sales. (Cryptopotato)
CryptoPunks, a Larvalabs brainchild, runs on the Ethereum blockchain network.
Due to their rarity, they are incredibly popular. For example, CryptoPunk #7523 sold for around $11.8 million, whereas #3100 CryptoPunk sold for $7.7 million, making them the 4th & 5th highest NFT sales, respectively.
7.) The Largest NFT Marketplace is OpenSea. (Medium, DappRadar)
OpenSea is the largest P2P marketplace for Non Fungible Tokens, with a total trading volume of roughly $14.68 billion.
OpenSea takes 90% of all the NFT trading volume.
OPenSea recorded an all-time high trading volume of $3.7 billion in January 2022
The brand has also aided in the creation of a number of other competitors, like Axie Infinity, which is currently valued at $3.94 billion. The CryptoPunks ($2.40 bil.) and the NBA Top Shot ($0.78 bil.) are two more well-known markets.
Below is the overview of Top Marketplaces for NFTs
| Market | Average price | Traders | Volume, billions |
| OpenSea | $938.99 | 1,387,357 | $14.68 |
| Axie Infinity | $216.15 | 1,624,169 | $3.94 |
| CryptoPunks | $123,690.00 | 5,600 | $2.40 |
| NBA Top Shot | $63.63 | 492,039 | $0.78 |
| Magic Eden | $308.74 | 304,403 | $0.62 |
| Solanart | $1,100.00 | 170,703 | $0.59 |
| Mobox | $790.81 | 59,178 | $0.53 |
| AtomicMarket | $24.98 | 895,199 | $0.32 |
| Rarible | $990.79 | 92,115 | $0.28 |
| SuperRare.co | $7,940.00 | 5,493 | $0.21 |
Bonus: Additional marketplaces like Decentraland and Sandbox allow users to buy real estate online using NFT. Learn how from our post here.
8.) Between Quarter 2 of 2021 to Quarter 3 of 2021, the amount of NFT trading increased by more than 700%. (CNBC)
Throughout 2021, the NFT surge was impossible to ignore, with quarterly trade volumes increasing by multiple folds between Q2 and Q3. The total value of all global NFT transactions in Q3 was $10.7 billion.
9.) The Chinese and Singaporeans are the most enthusiastic about NFTs. (Google Trends)
Citizens of China and Singapore are the most interested in NFTs, as of 2021, according to Google trends. The third-place finisher is Venezuela. Surprisingly, the United States did not even make the top ten countries list. This data was acquired over the course of a year by looking at Google Trends.
10.) Over half of total NFT sales are under the mark of 200 USD. (Influencer Makerting Hub)
Not all NFTs generate millions in revenue. More than 50% of the documented sales were less than $200. According to NFT statistics, the majority of primary sales were for less than 100 USD.
11.) Millennials are three times as likely than Generation Z to purchase NFTs. (Morning Consult)
The survey also revealed that widespread interest in NFTs is expanding, owing to a strong desire to “collect.” Around one-fourth of all individuals in the United States claim to have a hobby of collecting tangible objects. Around 42% of millennials also have a tangible collection.
12.) Search Interest in the term “NFT” (Statista)
Users in the Asia and Oceania region were more interested in NFTs than those in Europe, Latin America, or the Middle East and North Africa. China’s ranking as the top country for NFT searches may come as no surprise to some, given that it is the world’s largest Bitcoin miner. Three Southeast Asian countries are in the top five on this list, despite the fact that none of them are among the world’s top crypto-owning nations.
Below is the overview of the same:
| Nations | Interest By Nation |
| China | 100 |
| Singapore | 74 |
| Venezuela | 67 |
| Hong Kong SAR | 56 |
| Philippines | 49 |
| South Korea | 46 |
| Malta | 43 |
| Cyprus | 40 |
| Australia | 39 |
| Canada | 39 |
Note: The above Values are determined on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 denotes the place with the highest popularity as a proportion of total searches in that location, and 50 suggests a location that is half as popular.
13.) In 2021, the Nyan Cat GIF was sold for $590,000. (Business Insider)
The famed Nyan Cat GIF, which was minted in February 2021 and has been around for ten years, sold for nearly $600,000. Many other cat NFTs were dethroned after this transaction.
14.) Top 10 Most expensive NFTs ever sold (Cryptopotato)
| NFTs | Worth in Millions |
| The Merge | $91.8 |
| The First 5000 days | $69 |
| Human One | $29.98 |
| CryptoPunk #7523 | $11.75 |
| CryptoPunk #3100 | $7.58 |
| Xcopy: Right-Click and Save As Guy | $7.09 |
| Art Blocks, Ringers #109 | $6.93 |
| Crossroad | $6.6 |
| This Changed Everything | $5.4 |
| Save Thousands of Lives | $4.5 |
15.) The most valuable NFT video was sold for about $7 million. (influencer marketing hub)
In February 2021, this brief 10-second movie sold on Nifty Gateway for $6.6 million.
It displays former United States President Donald Trump lying flat on his stomach while passers-by go about their business.
16.) The most valuable NFT meme was sold for $4 million. (influencer marketing hub)
One of the most well-known memes is Doge, which depicts a Japanese breed Shiba Inu. It’s also the most expensive NFT meme, with a sale on Zora in June 2021 fetching over $4 million. The new owner of the NFT stated in September 2021 that the meme NFT will be divided into 17 billion parts. Only 20% of the new tokens dubbed as $DOG will be auctioned off initially.
Memes turned into NFTs sell with high value, Here is a table showing the most expensive Meme NFTs to date:
| NFT | Selling Price |
| Doge | $4,000,000 |
| Nyan Cat | $600,000 |
| Disaster Girl | $500,000 |
| Overly Attached Girlfriend | $411,000 |
| Grumpy Cat | $83,000 |
| Leave Britney Alone | $44,000 |
| Bad Luck Brian | $36,000 |
| Success Kid | $35,000 |
17.) People with annual incomes of less than $25k invested in NFTs at a similar caliber as those with annual incomes of greater than $150k. (CivicScience)
Buying NFTs is a hobby shared by both low- and high-income people. However, individuals in the middle-income range ($25,000- $150,000/pa) tend to be less enthusiastic, with 95% stating that they had no enthusiasm for NFTs at all.
18.) It costs around $100 to mint and sell NFTs. (Postergrind)
While the typical price for an NFT is roughly $200, it’s possible that you’ll have to pay half of that to get the artwork produced and sold. The typical price is between $70 to $120; however, some traders pay thousands.
Because of the blockchain’s use, creating NFTs can be a costly operation.
According to Slate, the cost of generating an NFT may range anywhere from $1 to $1000, based on the techniques employed.
19.) In 2021, NFT art sales reached about 1.5 million per month. (NonFungible)
Roughly 1,540,000 NFT art sales were made between October 15 and November 15. It totaled 11 million by the end of 2022.
20.) There has been a sale of $15.2 million in the NFT art segment as of April 2023.
Out of the $15.2 million, $1,071 came from primary sales and $14,087 came from secondary sales.
Here is a table showing the sales in the NFT art segment over a period of time:
| Time | Sales |
| April 2021 | $78,039 |
| Auguest 2021 | $298,210 |
| December 2021 | $183,655 |
| January 2022 | $154,584 |
| April 2022 | $70,974 |
| August 2022 | $22,384 |
| December 2022 | $34,144 |
| January 2023 | $17,168 |
| April 2023 | $15,158 |
21.) Collectibles are the most popular category in NFTs (NonFungible)
We’ve witnessed a surge in the many types of NFTs presently available for sale as curiosity around NFTs has grown in recent years. Currently, the value of NFTs in gaming and metaverse context is constantly growing, but they’re nowhere near the most popular kind of NFT – “collectibles.” People are especially interested in buying NFTs that they can collect and hold onto for a long time.
| NFT Category | Sales |
| Collectible | 116,567 |
| Utility | 103,909 |
| Art | 29,315 |
| Metaverse | 11,408 |
| Game | 8,102 |
22.) It is estimated that there are approximately 370,000+ NFT owners as of 2023. (NonFungible)
There are over 370,000 NFT owners who collectively possess around $2.9 million worth of NFTs. However, around 9% of the overall owners are responsible for around 80% of the share
This suggests that the bulk of the value in NFTs is held by a few whales who are now owning the most expensive NFTs. This is analogous to the hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin assets held by numerous whales.
23.) NFTs capture the interest of more than a third of gaming enthusiasts. (Morning Consult)
Over a third of eSports enthusiasts are interested in acquiring NFTs. Around 20% of the 2,200 people who took part in the poll stated they were highly interested in buying NFTs as an asset or a pastime. Another 35% of respondents said that they were moderately interested.
The same study found a substantial difference in the number of NFTs collected by men and women. According to the data, roughly 15% of male respondents had already collected NFTs, whereas just 4% of female respondents had done so.
24.) A typical NFT has a similar ecological footprint as a month’s worth of power used by an EU person. (CBS)
The amount of energy consumed to mint, maintain, and transfer titles of an NFT are costly to nature. A typical NFT transaction emits nearly 50 kgs of Carbon dioxide.
25.) The electricity usage of Ethereum is similar to that of Qatar and Hungary. (CBS)
Ethereum presently utilizes 44.94 terawatt-hours of electrical energy, which is similar to a lot of countries’ annual usage. It also emits around 21.35 metric tonnes of CO2 each year, which is similar to Sudan’s carbon impact.
26.) Cryptocurrencies like Polygon emit less than 1% of the Carbon Dioxide that Ethereum does. (Digiconomist)
The Ethereum network is used for the majority of NFTs; the coin used an estimated 104 Terawatt – hours per year by the end of 2021. Proof of stake technology, such as MATIC, on the other hand, utilizes just about 0.00006 Terawatt hours per year.
27.) Ethereum 2.0 technology has the potential to cut energy consumption by more than 99%. (Ethereum)
If Ethereum is successful in transitioning from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake technology, it might lower its blockchain’s energy usage by 99.95%. The changeover took place on 15th September 2022.
28.) Jack Dorsey, Founder and ex-CEO of Twitter, sold his first-ever tweet in NFT format for $2.9 million. (Business Insider)
Mr. Dorsey dubbed the tweet as “Mona Lisa of Tweets,” was able to fetch such a high amount because of expectations that the NFT’s value will rise in the future. The tweet stated, “just setting up my twttr,” with the price per character set at $100,000.
29.) Grimes sold NFTs for more than $7 million. (Tone Deaf)
Grimes created one of the best-selling NFT collections to date. She sold hundreds of copies of her record in NFT format for more than $7,500 apiece, as well as a one-of-a-kind film called “Death of the Old” for more than $389,000.
30.) More than $21.6 million was paid for NBA Star LeBron James NFT. (NFT Street)
On the NFT marketplace, a statue of NBA player LeBron James sold for more than $21.6 million. The sale is thought to have benefited LeBron directly.
31.) Eminem’s first NFT collection fetched $1.78 million at auction. (Tone Deaf)
As per the Nifty Gateway figures, “Rap God” Eminem sold his Shady Con NFT collection for $1,78 million. Digital action figures that impacted the American rapper throughout his boyhood were featured in the collection.
32.) Music Album NFT fetched $2 Million. (NME)
Kings of Leon, an American rock band, released their latest album ‘When You See Yourself’, as an NFT, making them the first band to do so. Additionally, as part of their “NFT Yourself” series, the band supplied three different varieties of NFTs. They also issued rewards for their live events as well as exclusive visual art as two additional sorts of tokens in addition to the exclusive record bundle. Through the NFT sales, the band was able to earn more than $2 million. Now, more music artists are releasing their work in the form of NFTs.
33.) Taco Bell released 25 NFTs in 2021. (Business Insider)
Fast-food restaurants can also sell NFTs if rock bands can. Taco Bell became the first fast-food chain to offer NFT. “NFTacoBells” was a collection of 25 digital art pieces that sold in less than 30 minutes on Rarible. More than $3,500 was paid for the artwork that garnered the highest price. Taco Bell’s Live Mass scholarship received 100% of the proceeds.
34.) Thailand is the country with most NFT users. (Statista)
Thailand is home to 5.65 million NFT users in the world. Brazil and the United States stand in the second and third spot with 4.99 million and 3.81 million users, respectively.
Below is the table showing the top 10 countries with the most number of NFT users:
| Country | No. of NFT Users |
| Thailand | 5.65 million |
| Brazil | 4.99 million |
| United States | 3.81 million |
| China | 2.68 million |
| Vietnam | 2.19 million |
| India | 1.50 million |
| Canada | 1.40 million |
| Indonesia | 1.25 million |
| Germany | 1.23 million |
| South Africa | 1.23 million |
35.) 1 Ethereum transaction consumes about 238.22-kilowatt hours of energy. (Statista)
As of February 2023, 1 Ethereum transaction consumes about 238.22-kilowatt hours of energy, while 100,000 VISA transactions consume about 148.63-kilowatt hours of energy. Although Ethereum’s energy consumption is lower than that of BTC, it is still very high. It will take a while until ETH is economical in terms of power consumption.
36.) Men are 2 times more likely to collect physical items than women. (Morning Consult)
Morning Consult conducted a survey of US adults, which revealed that 45% of men collect physical items as an investment or hobby. Only 22% of women said they collected physical items.
37.) Reasons why consumers buy NFT in the United States by gender. (Statista)
There are several reasons why Americans invest in NFTs; while both genders often noted return on investment, women were mostly invested in NFTs due to their popularity.
Here is a table showing why Americans invest in NFTs (By gender):
| Reason to Buy NFT | Male Respondents | Female Respondents |
| Return on investment | 39% | 40% |
| I am an art fan | 39% | 28% |
| Because family and friends are buying them | 34% | 22% |
| Early Adoption | 33% | 18% |
| It is trendy and currently popular | 30% | 36% |
| Bragging Rights | 21% | 7% |
| Others | 0% | 1% |
38.) Philippines is the country with the highest NFT adoption rate. (Statista)
According to Statista, individuals in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany were substantially less likely to own or purchase NFTs in 2022 than people in other countries.
Analyzing the results of multiple Google Surveys conducted in 2022 worldwide demonstrates that NFTs are highly popular among Southeast Asian and Latin American folks.
Here is a table showing the countries with the highest NFT adoption rate:
| Country | Share of adults who own an NFT |
| Philippines | 32% |
| Thailand | 26.6% |
| Malaysia | 23.9% |
| UAE | 23.4% |
| Vietnam | 17.4% |
| Nigeria | 13.7% |
| Brazil | 12.1% |
| Hong Kong SAR | 10.7% |
| Venezuela | 10.6% |
| Peru | 9.9% |
| Colombia | 8.4% |
| South Africa | 8.3% |
| Argentina | 7.4% |
| Singapore | 6.8% |
| Canada | 5.6% |
| Australia | 4.6% |
| Germany | 4% |
| United States | 2.8% |
| United Kingdom | 2.5% |
| Japan | 2.2% |
39.) NFTs and Environment
NFTs have been criticized for their environmental impact, as the process of minting and trading them can consume significant amounts of energy. However, some platforms, such as Tezos and Flow, have developed more energy-efficient alternatives to traditional blockchain technology.
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Conclusion: NFT Statistics 2023
That concludes our collection of NFT-related statistics.
The year 2021 (especially the month of March) was a watershed moment for NFTs.
Despite price fluctuations, NFTs rose in popularity and into the mainstream.
NFTs as an artistic medium has been pushed to their limits by artists and engineers.
Efforts to envision and construct the metaverse using NFTs as a core ingredient has gained traction.
A considerable quantity of money was traded in each of these locations, and interest, as measured in dollars, increased by orders of magnitude in 2021.
As you can see, the NFT area still has lots of possibilities for expansion in 2023, even though the first surge of enthusiasm has tapered down. In addition to potentially fascinating future applications for the technology (like owning land or accessing exclusive events).
The fact that NFTs mostly appeal to younger generations is a common thread that runs across many of these statistics. This is also encouraging for future growth.
