Punks sink into the 20 ETH price zone: are NFTs dead?

Who will remember NFT in 2024? Maybe some Pudgy Penguin owners who also received ZK tokens. Others may have moved on to the ordinal numbers, hoping to start on the ground floor with a brand new valuable collection. However, older NFT are not doing so well and are looking for ways to survive.

At the height of the 2021 NFT bull cycle, Punks hit a price bottom of $500,000. NFT coins was an anything-goes market, where it was the norm to sell entire collections in minutes, even before the images and information about rare properties were revealed.

Also read: What is NFT Crypto: The Complete Guide

Artists like Beeple also made their fortunes from the sale of a single NFT. Yuga Labs expanded its influence by launching a token as well as a real-world presence. However, the NFT boom was tied to crypto’s performance, and prices fell as the 2022-2023 bear market wiped out value.

The bottom prices for large collections are plummeting

After the 2023 bear market, NFT collections no longer surged to command exorbitant prices. For some it was a long way down. In June, Crypto Punks, the premier collection for all NFT, hit a price bottom of 26 ETH, an all-time low. Punks have been losing ground since early 2024, when they still managed to recover a respectable price floor of 60 ETH.

Even in this bear market, punks are still not even for sale on OpenSea, and some last changed hands in 2021. Blur is still an active market for NFT, but despite the rock bottom price data, actual bids do not exceed 10.ETH. At this rate, older early buyers who sold at the top are looking to their old NFT for a re-entry.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is not doing much better. In just a few days, BAYC managed to shave 20% off the floor price, dropping to 8.86 ETH.

It’s starting to look like a negative trend, unless you take into account Miladies, the collection that makes no sense. In fact, Miladies reached a record floor price of 4.75 ETH, a mint price of 0.06 ETH and all holders simply refuse to sell, with only less than 5% of all Miladies ever minted listed. Pudgy Penguins, another top collection, is holding steady for now, with a floor price of 8.3 ETH and a large social media presence.

Hackers also won’t turn down an NFT if it’s free, as wallet emptying is still a common exploit.

Not all collections are in the dregs, and some still maintain unaffordable minimum prices. Still, the rapid decline raises fears that previous holders will sell off their shares.

What keeps NFT above water

NFT collections claim exclusivity, so some holders are simply unwilling to sell for the status their BAYC or MAYC avatar confers. Other collections quickly reoriented to agriculture, making each owner eligible for further mints and airdrops. With that goal in mind, early buyers are in no hurry to part with their exclusive club pass.

Also read: Why do NFTs fetch astronomical prices?

New projects are also willing to hitch their wagon to the fame and high visibility of top NFT collectors, not to mention an enthusiastic social media audience. Even in 2024, NFT could still be useful for various forms of staking, farming, or other incentives to simply hold and never sell.

There were only options left for a handful of NFTs from top collections. NFT farming was also a temporary solution, and some platforms found it wasn’t sustainable. Blur, one of the most active NFT resale marketplaces with farming features, is delivering disappointing results in Season 3’s final farming campaign.

As popular resale markets slow down, owners of valuable NFTs should generate another token or participate in a rewards system. Ultimately, this required a Ponzi-like structure, with new inflows to support the value of early entrants.

By only spawning temporary save collections like Pudgy Penguins and Miladys, which minted xDMT tokens and were eligible for OMNI and ZK airdrops.

Is the NFT model still viable?

The days when the NFT made millions of dollars and had high-profile sales in art galleries may be over. But the collections-based model, the ethos of holding on and some form of cessation may remain. Even the Goblintown the collection has not fallen to zero, with a bottom at 0.07 ETH and recent sales above $500.

Also read: What is NFT Crypto: The Complete Guide

Recently, meme token collections are also trying to provide value with NFT. Instead of holding NFT for token airdrops, some token projects promise NFT for holding their collection. Later, the NFT avatars can add to the community’s swag and serve as a form of marketing.

Games continue to create NFT items, providing the opportunity for long-term ownership and trading. The NFT model also expanded to Ordinals and Runes, which are now trying to repeat the success of Punks and Apes.

The other big problem for NFT will be hosting actual images, which could become the responsibility of the owners. Unlike Ordinals, NFT images require some form of hosting to display the image, although they maintain a permanent record on the blockchain.

In some NFT collections, it is precisely the irrational and pointless holding on that can breathe new life into older images. Some see NFT as a marker of a new online culture with a blockchain component. While the era of big NFT coins and peak prices may be over, the idea of ​​self-identity may be here to stay, and new projects can reinvigorate its value through tokens, rarity, or other tools.

NFT no longer offer quick revenue, but they have helped create the model of a community ready to hold without selling. Some collectors may also be waiting for their return, or rallying their communities for new types of assets and investments.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva