Author: Nancy, PANews
Recently, with the launch of major projects such as Magic Eden and Pudgy Penguins, the confidence in the NFT market has been effectively reignited, driving a strong rebound in prices and trading volume.
A wave of NFT airdrops, with leading projects announcing token launch plans
A new round of token launches is sweeping in, with the airdrop event of the NFT trading platform Magic Eden being the first to ignite this wave of NFT hype.
A few days ago, Magic Eden officially launched its TGE (Token Generation Event) and quickly listed on major exchanges, with the broad-based airdrop becoming a hot topic in the community. While the airdrop activity has attracted a lot of attention, Magic Eden has also frequently announced a series of product updates, including allowing users to use ME tokens to trade Solana NFTs, allowing users to trade all assets on all chains in the next version, and launching community-first features. According to recent revelations by Magic Eden co-founder Jack Lu, the ME token launch is just the beginning, with more plans to come. These initiatives have further increased the attention on Magic Eden and the entire NFT market.
Meanwhile, as another major trading platform, OpenSea has also sparked airdrop speculation. According to a recent social media post by The Block co-founder Mike Dudas, OpenSea has registered a foundation in the Cayman Islands. Since foundations are usually non-profit organizations, this registration is widely seen as a preparation for token issuance, as it can effectively avoid the tokens being viewed as securities. It is worth mentioning that OpenSea had previously announced the launch of a new version in December, and the beta version shows the potential launch of a loyalty program and retroactive rewards.
According to the latest data from nftpluse, over the past year, OpenSea has ranked second in the NFT trading market with about 1.2 million users, accounting for 23.5% of the market, second only to Magic Eden. Once OpenSea launches an airdrop, its huge user base may once again ignite the enthusiasm of the NFT market.
In addition, the leading NFT project Pudgy Penguins has also announced its TGE plan during this period, allocating about a quarter of the total token supply to the community. According to analysis by X user @BTCThinker88, the Pudgy Penguins PENGU token airdrop may become one of the biggest wealth creation events of 2024, with an estimated average airdrop return of $31,000-$61,000 per holder. Given that Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz previously revealed that the PENGU token snapshot has not yet been taken, this NFT has also quickly become a hot topic in the market.
According to NFT Price Floor data, as of December 16, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins has soared to 33.7 ETH, with a 30-day increase of over 236.9%, and a monthly trading volume of $160 million. Currently, Pudgy Penguins' market cap is close to $1.2 billion, surpassing the market cap of BAYC and second only to the highest-valued CryptoPunks.
Blue-chip projects become the main driving force of the strong NFT rebound
At present, blue-chip NFT projects are showing strong growth in prices and trading volume, becoming the main driving force of the market recovery.
CryptoSlam data shows that over the past 30 days, the total trading volume of the NFT market was about $720 million, with double-digit growth in transactions on Ethereum, BTC, and Immutable, showing a strong market recovery momentum.
In the process of market recovery, the main contribution to trading volume comes from blue-chip NFT projects. According to NFT Price Floor statistics, over the past 30 days, the top 10 NFT projects by market cap have completed a total of $470 million in trading volume, accounting for about 64.9% of the overall market, with Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, and Bored Ape Yacht Club leading in trading volume.
At the same time, the recovery of the market is also reflected in the price performance of blue-chip NFTs. NFT Price Floor data shows that over the past 30 days, the average floor price of the Top 10 NFTs has increased by 91.7% (calculated in token terms), with Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, and Azuki showing particularly outstanding growth. This further verifies the significant driving force of airdrops on trading volume and floor prices, and also demonstrates the strong resilience of blue-chip projects.
Looking at the performance of more segmented market sectors, the upward momentum is most evident in utility-based NFTs and PFP/Avatar NFTs, with NFT Price Floor data showing that the market cap of these two sectors has increased by more than 85%. In comparison, the performance of game-based NFTs and ancient NFTs has been relatively flat, and they have not yet caught up with the pace of the market recovery.
"The market is about to enter the most prosperous NFT bull market in history. AI will become extremely wealthy, and due to the inability to purchase physical luxury goods, AI will turn to buying NFTs," Mechanism Capital partner Andrew Kang predicted in a recent post.
Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu also recently stated that the NFT market will see a strong rebound, and although there have been some failed cases in this field, NFTs will continue to rise as status symbol commodities.
VanEck, in its "Top 10 Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2025," pointed out that although NFTs face challenges, some excellent projects have transcended speculative value through strong community ties and successfully withstood the downward trend. For example, Pudgy Penguins has successfully transformed into a consumer product through the collection of toys, Miladys has gained cultural status in the field of satirical internet culture, and Bored Ape Yacht Club has developed into a global cultural force. VanEck believes that new wealthy users will invest in NFTs, not just as speculative investments, but as assets with lasting cultural and historical significance, and predicts that the annual trading volume of NFTs could reach $30 billion, about 55% of the 2021 peak.
Overall, blue-chip projects are undoubtedly the core force in the recovery of the NFT market. Although the overall market rebound still faces uncertainties, the arrival of the airdrop wave has effectively stimulated market sentiment in the short term.
