NFT sales plunged to a 12-month low in June

Monthly sales totalled just over $1 billion, down from $12.6 billion in January

Sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) fell to a 12-month low in June amid a broader slowdown in the cryptocurrency market.

According to crypto research firm Chainalysis (via The Guardian), sales of NFTs reached just over $1 billion (£830 million) in June.

It marks the worst month for NFT sales since June 2021 ($648m) and follows a peak of $12.6 billion recorded in January.

NFTs are unique non-interchangeable units of data stored on a decentralised ledger called a blockchain, which allow users to buy and sell digital goods such as in-game items or artwork.

Chainalysis economist Ethan McMahon said the slowdown in NFT sales was linked to a decline in the wider cryptocurrency market, which has fallen in worth from about $3 trillion in November 2021 to under $1 trillion.

“This decline is definitely linked to the broader slowdown in crypto markets,” he said.

“Times like this inevitably lead to consolidation within the affected markets, and for NFTs we will likely see a pullback in terms of the collections and types of NFTs that reach prominence.”

An NFT of the first tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, which was purchased in March 2021 for $2.9 million by Sina Estavi, the CEO of Malaysia-based blockchain company Bridge Oracle, was put up for auction earlier this year and didn’t receive any bids above $14,000.

Earlier today Web 3 company Polium announced the first NFT games console. It claims its ‘Polium One’ system will be “the world’s first multi-chain gaming console” that will be capable of running games built on different blockchains.

“The console will be powerful enough to run high-performance games and will be easy to use for a traditional gamer who doesn’t understand Web 3,” it said.

Ahead of its planned launch in Q3 2024, the console will only be available to pre-order if players buy a ‘Polium Pass’, an NFT on the Ethereum network of which 10,000 will be minted.

Earlier this month Sony Interactive Entertainment veterans Michael Mumbauer and John Garvin announced the formation of a new gaming and entertainment studio called Liithos, which is working on an NFT game called Ashfall.

The title, which will see players fighting to survive in a world scarred by global warming, is the brainchild of Garvin, the former creative director and writer at Days Gone developer Bend Studio.

It is described as “the first true Web 3.0 AAA title for PC, console, and the Hedera network”, which uses a “native, energy-efficient cryptocurrency” called HBAR.