NFTs, DeFi Off to a Bright Start in 2023, January Outlook Reveals

Recent on-chain observations from DappRadar and cryptoslam.io reveal positive uptrends in DeFi and NFT sales for the month of January. Over $997 million was recorded in total sales over the 31-day period representing a 41% uptick from December figures.

Behind NFT Gains

Table leader Mutant Ape Yacht Club topped the chart for most of January with over 3000 transactions, signalling a 42% sales increase which amounted to a total of $70.8 million. The embattled Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) closely followed at a 21% loss to close the month-end sales volume at $63.9 million. At an average of 55 days, the holding period for the 10,000-piece NFT collection remained strong, as it managed to hold back some of its hype value, despite currently being down 97% from its $53 Million ATH in August 2021.

Within the time period, The Porsche 911 NFT collection and the National Geographic GM NFT collection were amongst the top recorded launch flops for a big brand. Experts believe a lack of proper strategy, underlying utility and insight into current market sentiment may have contributed.

Other NFTs on the top ten chart are Sewer Pass, Otherdeed, Bored Ape Kennel, Azuki, Sorare, Cryptopunks and Doodles. All the top ten NFTs were launched and traded on the Ethereum network. Crypto number two network saw over $476 million in sales from 1,200+ transactions. Other networks most active in the NFT space within the period are ImmutableX, Cardano, Polygon, Flow, Arbitrum, Wax, BNB, Panini and Avalanche.

Analysing DeFi Data

Hot on the heels of the NFT sector is the DeFi section of crypto, which brilliantly picked up considerable steam from the January market rally.

Decentralized Finance posted a 26% MoM gain totalling $74.6 billion, to cap off January. Optimism stood out among the five top-performing DeFi platforms with a 57.44% gain. Thanks to its learn-to-earn program, which ran for the first 17 days of the month, Optimism recorded over 150,000 daily transactions during the time period.

As markets showed early signs of a bull run, the impact of the Ethereum PoS upgrade became prominent as Lido upturned MakerDAO to become the largest DeFi pool with over $7.5 billion locked in January.

The total value locked (TVL) for decentralized applications had reached $74 billion by the end of January, signifying a 26.8% increase. For the period under review, monthly losses hit a 12-month low at $14.6 million. Daily unique active wallets also witnessed a drop at an aggregate of 3 million, with WAX, BNB, Polygon, Hive and Ethereum contributing 42% of the total dUAW for January.

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