Stan Lee Becomes NFT Superhero, Illustrating A Downward Shift In Prices

Accessibility has replaced exclusivity in the NFT market as $15 depictions of Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man and king of cameos in the Marvel movie world, elbowed cutesy Doodles avatars and pixelated punks out of the industry spotlight.

Not only are people paying less for art owned via nonfungible tokens (NFTs), but they are buying a lot less. Only 3.7 million transactions occurred in July, according to a DappRadar report, down 60% from a year earlier.

“People are running out of steam” and are tired of the same expensive profile pictures, says Bitwise research analyst Juan Leon. “They are waiting for a new paradigm to emerge.”

The shift in interest to easy-on-the-wallet NFTs helped send trading volume down to $632 million in July, according to a DappRadar report, a two-year low. The drop was 23% from June and $33% from July 2022.

“People are distancing themselves from the profile-picture collectibles” and have become pickier with their collections, says Sara Gherghelas, blockchain analyst at Dapp Radar and author of the report.

Even as the cryptocurrency market recovers from its terrible 2022, this year remains bleak for NFTs. The most expensive NFT sold this year, a piece of generative art called “The Goose,” formerly owned by bankrupt crypto firm Three Arrows Capital and sold in June by Sotheby’s, only reached $6.2 million. In contrast, the highest-priced sale last year came in at $53.7 million.

NFT price floors, the lowest amount for which a piece in a collection sells, have also suffered. Most blue-chip collections, including those of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Azukis, Doodles, Meebits and Clone X have seen their floor prices plummet over 50%. Doodles was the worst performer, declining 84%.

CryptoPunks, the largest NFT collection by market capitalization ($880 million), has seen its floor price fall 62% in the last year to 29.93 ETH
ETH
, about $55,200, according to NFT Price Floor. CryptoPunks had been one of the most expensive NFT collections, with different types of the pixelated heads accounting for four of the top 10 highest-selling collections of 2022, and selling for individual prices of $1.5 million to $23.6 million. Leon credits the dominance as top-performer to the low-definition collection’s adoption by the “crypto-native,”, finding success within that niche.

A collection of four different types of Stan Lee-themed NFTs sold out in minutes, according to the collection’s creator, Kartoon Studios, in late July. Each collectible was priced at $15, meaning that selling out the 8,294 pieces netted the company nearly $125,000. In comparison, the most expensive NFT sale of July was a single golden Bored Ape which sold for $1.1 million in early July.

AnotherNFT collaboration between musician Jay Chou and soccer club Paris St. Germain, launched in June, currently has pieces available for $18.

Indeed, NFTs on the Polygon
MATIC
blockchain, known for their lower prices due to lower fees, dominated sales and accounted for 27% of all transactions made in July, according to DappRadar. Polygon is often used for large NFT projects, and is popular with mainstream brands like Starbucks
SBUX
, Reddit and Adidas to launch their digital collections.

“The past few years we saw early adopters of NFTs, now we’re seeing the rise of the retail crowd,” that want the lower, more accessible entry point into the market, says Leon.

The market decline seems to also have expanded beyond NFTs themselves as ApeCoin
APE
, the crypto token named after the Bored Ape Yacht Club, hit an all-time low on Wednesday morning of $1.77, according to CoinGecko. The price has rebounded to $1.81.