NFT sales jump 26% in first week of 2023

• NFT sales jumped 26% as trading volume rose across major blockchains.
• Ethereum accounted for the most NFT sales, while Bored Ape Yacht Club dominated among collections.
• The broader crypto industry has started 2023 slightly higher, with notable rallies for coins such as Cardano, Solana and Ziliqa.

The NFT market size is expected to grow over the next several years, and 2023 has begun with a significant jump in sales on top NFT marketplaces. It is one of the interesting NFT statistics for the year.

According to data from Cryptoslam.io, NFT sales increased by 26% in the first week of the year. The platform showed the metric rose by the margin as 1.2 million NFT transactions registered across 400,740 NFT buyers.

As for the NFT collection with the highest transaction volume, the honour fell to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The collection registered $19,052,102 in sales, with trading volume rising by 53% in the week.

BNB Chain records 71% spike in NFT sales

Per the data, the most sales occurred on the Ethereum blockchain – where NFT sales accounted for $164 million of $209 million. Overall, the sales rose across all major blockchain networks. BNB Chain saw the largest jump in sales, with a 71% spike just higher than the 70% growth on Theta grew.

Solana remains a top NFT ecosystem despite recent upheaval following the collapse of FTX and saw its NFT sales increase by 28.8% last week.

Crypto prices up early in 2023

Cryptocurrencies entered 2023 on the back of major losses in the previous year, with Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market having recorded massive dips from their all-time highs.

However, the first week of the year has seen crypto mirror broader market movements with gains pushing BTC above $17,000 and Ethereum to $1,340. While Bitcoin is up more than 4% in the past week, Ethereum has notched double figures with over 10%.

Among the most impressive performers include Cardano that’s up 28% and Solana that has rallied by more than 45% this past week. SOL’s surge came after the BONK  meme coin airdrop to the Solana NFT community. Ziliqa has soared over 50% amid major network upgrades and integrations – including with esports loyalty programs.