Demand for NFTs has grown in recent weeks due to rising cryptocurrency prices and those on Monday $16 million sale of a CryptoPunk-the fifth most expensive NFT sale until now – put an exclamation point on that trend.
But the largest NFT marketplace in recent days is not the same one that reigned supreme only mid-February, now that the tide of the market wars has once again turned. And the latest startup to take over the throne can appreciate that Bitcoin ordinal numbers for much of that commotion.
Magic Eden is now the largest marketplace by trading volume, according to blockchain data compiled by Tiexo, with approximately $44.7 million in transactions in the past 24 hours – accounting for a nearly 38% share of total NFT trading. The Ethereum-only Blur is next with $30.4 million, or a roughly 26% share. Over the past seven days, Magic Eden is still at the top with a 35% share.
Scroll all the way down that list of marketplaces, past the once-dominant OpenSea and Solana’s typical leader Tensor to platforms with smaller market impact. What is missing? Any other multi-chain marketplace that supports this Bitcoin together with other blockchains.
Magic Eden is the only example of this, and while the market started on Solana and has made efforts to keep that loyalty a key part of its identity, it’s Bitcoin Ordinals trading that’s driving the NFT startup’s latest surge worth $1.6 billion has propelled.
Ordinals are Bitcoin’s equivalent of NFTs, which emerged in early 2023 and quickly became one of the most popular chains for unique digital assets. Magic Eden was quick-witted, launch of Bitcoin Ordinals support in March 2023 as part of its multi-chain mentality.
February was a great growth month at Magic Eden and ended with a bang. Yesterday ours was:
🪄 Highest volume day for Ordinals ever
🪄 Highest cross-chain volume day ever
🪄 Highest volume day for ME Wallet swaps everThanks guys. We love you. pic.twitter.com/P8ghw0ezJt
— Magic Eden 🪄 (@MagicEden) March 1, 2024
As Bitcoin itself approaches 2021’s all-time high price, Ordinals sales are piling up and Magic Eden is hosting the lion’s share of it – including the $1 million sale of a NodeMonkes inscription early Monday.
In the last 24 hours, about 84% of Magic Eden’s trading volume came from Ordinals sales, with the Solana marketplace responsible for about 13% and the newly launched Ethereum marketplace taking the last 3% of that total .
Chris Akhavan, GM of Magic Eden’s marketplace, shared Declutter that the impact of embracing Ordinals and expanding its multi-chain approach has been “huge,” with Sunday being the startup’s all-time best day for Bitcoin trading and cross-chain trading volume. About $40 million of that came from the sale of Bitcoin Ordinals.
“More importantly, we’ve seen a whole new field of creators emerge who are bringing innovation to the space and introducing NFTs to a whole new audience by leveraging the mother of all blockchains,” Arkhavan added.
Will Magic Eden be able to maintain this momentum? The crypto market is fickle, and the NFT market perhaps even more so. But the buzz around Bitcoin and a potentially looming new all-time price has been building for a while, and the NFT space feels more vibrant than it has since the bull run days of early 2022.
The magical Eden Diamond reward system could also play a role in keeping traders in the market, much like the upcoming NFT token drop from the Non-Fungible DAO, which works closely with the market and will reward its users in the airdrop.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.