Despite the low sentiment in the NFT market at the beginning of 2024, demand began to grow by the end of the year as significant changes occurred in the market.

Written by: Logan Hitchcock, Centreless

At the start of 2024, the NFT market was struggling, with major collections unable to maintain their value amid ongoing bearish sentiment. As trading volume shrank, floor prices generally fell, leading many to question whether the NFT market could rebound.

However, as the year entered its final quarter, a new bullish sentiment emerged in the broader cryptocurrency market, laying the groundwork for a year-end recovery. Of course, expectations should not be too high. This is not the gold rush of 2021/2022, but NFT believers still welcomed the shift in atmosphere.

Pudgy Penguins led the way, with this once-fading collection revitalized after changing hands in 2022, reaching a historic high of over $100,000 in anticipation of its token airdrop.

In 2024, the NFT market saw intensified competition, and this revival momentum followed suit. Platforms like Magic Eden, Blur, and OpenSea vied for market dominance, driving innovation by incorporating new blockchains and types of trading.

From a slow start to an exhilarating finish, 2024 once again proved to the world that the NFT space remains vibrant and unpredictable, fueled by community enthusiasm and a relentless pursuit of innovation.

Here are some themes in the NFT space for 2024.

Bitcoin Ordinals Establish a Foothold

Although Bitcoin Ordinals (more or less Bitcoin NFTs) were launched in early 2023, they truly came into prominence this year, thanks to significant upgrades in infrastructure and increased adoption. Early challenges, such as the lack of user-friendly wallets and marketplaces, gradually faded with the emergence of wallets like XVerse and Unisat, which made holding Ordinals safer and easier.

At the same time, with key support from markets like Magic Eden and OXK, trading became smoother, showing significant improvement compared to the chaotic days of trading Bitcoin Ordinals via spreadsheets on Discord servers.

This evolution of infrastructure paved the way for outstanding projects to stand out and helped "drive the revival of Bitcoin activity," according to Franklin Templeton.

Bitcoin Puppets and NodeMonkes led the charge, surging from moderate minting prices to peaks of 0.469 Bitcoin ($33,000) and 0.897 Bitcoin ($56,000), respectively, according to Magic Eden data. Although these prices have since fallen to 0.138 Bitcoin ($14,000) and 0.125 Bitcoin ($12,650) due to a significant rise in the price of BTC itself, their impact on the Ordinals ecosystem remains significant. Other high-profile projects, such as Quantum Cats and Ordinals Maxi Business, have also found enthusiastic collector communities.

Evolution and Expansion of the NFT Market

This year has been crucial for the NFT market, with OpenSea, Magic Eden, and Blur shaping the market landscape in their unique ways. Blur maintained its dominance in Ethereum NFT trading, but its influence waned during the summer as the NFT bear market continued. Additionally, its founding team shifted focus elsewhere, launching Blast, an Ethereum Layer 2 network.

On the other hand, Magic Eden stole the spotlight in 2024 with bold innovations. It led the trend of Bitcoin NFTs and added a decentralized exchange for Runes (Bitcoin's version of meme coins) after the halving. The buzz around the brand peaked when its ME Foundation launched the ME token, which airdropped over $700 million to protocol users.

Meanwhile, OpenSea, the leading marketplace during the 2021 boom, re-emerged as a leader in the NFT world by year-end. First, CEO Deven Finzer candidly stated that the company was willing to "stand up and fight" when the company faced scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in September.

Shortly thereafter, as testing for the OpenSea 2.0 marketplace redesign began, a buzz surrounded the platform, ultimately sparking speculation about a potential token launch in the future. This speculation intensified as users reported loyalty programs during the closed testing period, and the OpenSea Foundation registered in the Cayman Islands.

Brands Come and Go

During the NFT boom of 2021, major brands like Nike and Adidas rushed into the space. However, in 2024, the bear market and waning NFT sentiment prompted some giants to withdraw.

One of the most notable exits was Nike's decision to shut down RTFKT, the fashion and technology studio it acquired in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Before Nike took action, Starbucks had already ended its Web3 loyalty program, Starbucks Odyssey, which operated on the Polygon blockchain.

DraftKings, a major player in the fantasy sports and sports betting industry, abruptly halted its NFT business, shutting down the DraftKings Reignmakers fantasy game that had been in operation for years. This move came amid a collective lawsuit filed by users and ongoing regulatory uncertainties in the space.

However, despite some major brands retreating, at least one brand made waves in the Web3 space. McDonald's collaborated with the NFT series Doodles for a holiday-themed campaign. This partnership brought the NFT brand into the real world, with McDonald's locations offering custom holiday coffee cups. This indicates that even in a relatively calm NFT market, some brands still see the potential for creative integration.

Token Craze

In recent months, perhaps no narrative has gained as much momentum and attention as the connection between NFT projects and their associated tokens (sometimes referred to as utility tokens due to their ecosystems).

While the launch or association of tokens with NFT collections is not a new phenomenon, the rise of tokenization in 2024, coupled with an increasingly optimistic regulatory environment in the U.S. under incoming President Donald Trump, has brought token issuance back into focus.

Notably, Pudgy Penguins launched its ecosystem token PENGU on Solana this month. The token can be claimed by over 7 million unique wallets, providing over $1.5 billion in collective stimulus funds for NFT holders and many other eligible parties.

But Pudgy Penguins is not the only one venturing down the token path in 2024. This year alone, NFT collections Memeland, Milady, and Mocaverse have all issued tokens to their NFT holders and ecosystem participants.

As of the time of writing, the market value of these three tokens has exceeded $100 million and has remained at that level—this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This narrative is likely to remain hot in 2025, when Azuki is expected to distribute the highly anticipated ANIME token to users and other Web3 participants on its ecosystem AnimeChain. Additionally, Yuga Labs, the parent company of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is expected to continue promoting ApeCoin (APE) vigorously within the recently launched ApeChain.

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