NFT Growth Remains Strong As Shown By Axie Infinity, OpenSea, CryptoPunks, Says Analyst

Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest noted that the growth of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, remains strong despite a price crash from the heydays when Beeple sold an artwork for $69 million.

What Happened: Ark, which runs funds like the Ark Innovation ETF ARKK and the ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF ARKX, made the observations in a newsletter on Monday.

The investment management firm's analyst Frank Downing, citing Messari data, noted that NFT marketplace OpenSea’s volumes hit $150 million in June, which beat its previous record of $148 million — hit in March.

Downing pointed to game marketplace Axie Infinity AXS/USD, which he said is breaking records having hosted more than $170 million in June.

The rise of CryptoPunks, a collection of 10,000 unique pixel art renderings which represent digital personae also did not escape Ark. 

“​​Even Jay-Z has designated a CryptoPunk as his profile picture on Twitter ahead of a Sotheby's auction of an NFT based on his debut album Reasonable Doubt,” wrote Ark.

Why It Matters: NFTs can not only disrupt the digital art scene but also property rights and supply chains, as per Ark. 

The Wood-led company pointed to TechCrunch selling property as an example of such an upcoming disruption.

See Also: 7 Strange Things You Can Own As A Non-Fungible Token (NFT)

“It appears that NFTs are in the early days of challenging intellectual and other property laws,” noted Ark.

Axie co-founder Jeffrey Jiho Zirlin said earlier in the month on Twitter that the project's NFT marketplace was a driver of revenues.

The AXS token associated with Axie has been surging lately. At press time, AXS traded 0.09% lower at $18. Over the week AXS has shot up nearly 87%.

Ethereum ETH/USD, a cryptocurrency that often underpins NFT sales, slumped 5.33% over 24 hours to $2,026.03. For the week, it is down 8.67%.

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