Ethereum gas consumption of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has dropped significantly since the 2021 highs. Marketplaces and NFT projects that held top positions in gas consumption at the time have since shown a sharp decline in two years.
Data shared by the on-chain analytics platform Glassnode shows that gas consumption by NFT marketplaces is currently on a downward trend. The marketplaces that once topped the gas consumption charts are now far from their former spots in the Ethereum gas consumption chart. This shows that there could be a shift in terms of NFT usage, with more users choosing to hold onto their assets rather than trading them on marketplaces.
Etherscan’s top 10 contracts or accounts that consumed a lot of gas on August 4, 2021. Source: The Wayback Machine
In 2021, NFTs topped the charts in Ethereum gas usage according to blockchain explorer Etherscan. On August 4, 2021, the NFT gaming project Axie Infinity (AXS) came second in terms of gas consumption due to the Ronin bridge that transfers assets from Ethereum to the Ronin blockchain. On the same day, NFT marketplace OpenSea was ranked fourth on the list.
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Fast forward to 2023, crypto analytics platform Nansen revealed that NFT marketplaces only accounted for more than 3% of total gas consumption in a weekly period in May. This came amid a surge in Ether (ETH) gas prices at the time, and sparked theories that NFTs were merely a “product of excess liquidity” resulting from money printing during the pandemic.
Gone were the days when NFTs topped Ethereum’s gas consumption charts. This week, OpenSea and Blur together accounted for less than 10% of the top 20 gas consumers.
And against all gas consumers, the NFT marketplaces were just over 3%. Uniswap, on the other hand, was 10x more – 31.99%. pic.twitter.com/4NUF6Yb3eX
— Nansen (@nansen_ai) May 19, 2023
Today, gas consumption by NFTs continues to decline. Currently, the gas consumption of Blur, OpenSea, SuperRare, LooksRare, and Rarible only accounts for about 1.85% of the gas consumption for the entire Ethereum network.
Aside from this, OpenSea and Axie Infinity, projects that once topped the charts of Etherscan’s top gas users, are nowhere to be seen in the top 50 list. While marketplaces are nowhere to be seen in terms of gas consumption, NFT marketplace Blur is still hovering around Etherscan’s top 30 for gas consumers at the time of writing.
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