The number of NFT traders who were actively trading fell to its lowest level since November 2021 the day after Silicon Valley Bank failed.
According to DappRadar, there were just 12,000 active NFT traders on last Saturday, the day after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took control of Silicon Valley Bank, a level not seen since November 2021. The lowest daily total of single NFT deals so far this year was 33,112 on that particular day. According to DappRadar, NFT trading volume has decreased by 51% since the beginning of March, while revenues have dropped by around 16%.
Yet, not all collections of non-fungible tokens had the same effects. Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, two projects from NFT issuer Yuga Labs, had a tiny decline in their floor pricing on Saturday, but the prices immediately climbed back up.
One Twitter user likened CryptoPunks to USDC and asserted that it was more reliable than the stablecoin, which had lost its peg to the dollar following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Due to a flood of withdrawal requests from customers, the bank was forced to sell off a significant percentage of its holdings at a loss.
So according Sara Gherghelas, a research researcher at DappRadar, Yuga Labs' success has been boosted by both the company's capacity to create a community and its investment in CryptoPunks. The firm claimed to have a modest exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, but its token holders didn't react significantly to the information.
“They have a very clear road map, the team is visible, and they decided to deliver a good project after the Ape ecosystem,” Gherghelas said. “They keep building. They are showing that if you're part of their community, they have so many perks and benefits.”
Not all collections were unharmed by Silicon Valley Bank's demise. Proof, the NFT collective behind the well-known collection Moonbirds, announced on Twitter on March 10 shortly after the news broke, causing considerable concern among holders because the firm had put some money in Silicon Valley Bank.
According to DappRadar, Moonbirds lost around 18% of its value over the weekend. The sale of 500 Moonbirds by one significant holder on Saturday resulted in losses ranging from 9% to 33%, totalling approximately 700 ETH, or almost $1.1 million.
While the disclosure of Proof's exposure to Silicon Valley Bank added to project uncertainty, according to Gherghelas, holders were compelled to sell due to the company's previous failings. The community is unsure about the company's capacity to fulfil its commitments after it postponed its Proof of Conference scheduled for May.
“People, users and consumers are becoming pickier and they don't want hype, they want the perks, the benefits and the utility behind that NFT collection,” Gherghelas said.
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