In 2021, the volume of NFT trades was over double what it was in 2020. A CoinGecko report indicated a decline in digital art trading, where the value dropped from $22.024 billion to $11.8 billion. This slump comes despite the once high demand for pixelated assets, which saw significant prices being paid, and even celebrities like Jimmy Fallon displaying a Bored Ape on “The Tonight Show.” However, the reduction in interest among cryptocurrency investors has not been abrupt but has instead decreased gradually over time. In 2022, the crypto industry analysis by CoinGecko indicated that digital art transactions decreased quarter after quarter, experiencing a decline of more than $10 billion from the first to the last quarter of the year. The sustained downturn in this market was attributed to unfavorable broader economic trends and significant failures within the industry. According to Rohan Handa, who is in charge of NFTs at Mysten Labs, uncertainties in the cryptocurrency industry have weakened the trust of both the general public and investors. For further details, see the article on the conviction of a previous OpenSea executive in a case of NFT insider trading. The decline in the non-fungible token (NFT) market can be seen in the struggles experienced by OpenSea, a marketplace previously estimated to be worth $13.3 billion. In December 2023, its trading volume hit approximately $13 million, following a streak of nine straight months where it surpassed $2 billion between 2021 and 2022, as reported by a Dune Analytics dashboard. OpenSea reduced its workforce by half in the early part of November. Several days following the initial report, it was revealed that Coatue Management, a financial supporter of OpenSea, had substantially reduced the valuation of its stake in the company, decreasing it by 90%. Meanwhile, OpenSea’s chief executive, Devin Finzer, hinted at upcoming enhancements to the platform, referring to these improvements as “OpenSea 2.0.” At the beginning of the month, the platform introduced a new feature for creating wallets that necessitates nothing more than an email address. The CEO of OpenSea, Finzer, stated to Blockworks in a document that the company is preparing for a surge of newcomers by simplifying the process of purchasing and selling NFTs, enabling individuals to begin with merely their email. The market for NFT trading began to show signs of revival towards the end of 2023 and into 2024, with growth being stimulated by the spread of Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions and the growing interest in the Solana ecosystem. For additional details, see the article: Web3 Watch, which highlights that Solana and Bitcoin have overtaken Ethereum in terms of NFT sales.