Big Idea:

The NFT trading volume experienced a significant increase of $99 million in October compared to the previous month, breaking a yearlong downward trend. 

Why It Matters:

The resurgence in NFT trading volume coincides with Bitcoin's price bouncing above $35,000, reaching its highest in 16 months. Ethereum also experienced a 50% jump in NFT trading volume, maintaining its leadership position across all networks.

State of Play:

• Animoca Brands, a blockchain company, has raised $11.9 million in its second tranche of funding for its Mocaverse project, a new Web3 platform focused on advancing digital property rights in gaming and the open metaverse. 
• Animoca Brands' recent investment of over $31 million shows the increasing value of digital property in the large video game market and the metaverse, set to reach $829 billion by 2028.
• Line Next, a NFT division of Line Corporation, has secured a $140 million investment in a funding round led by the Peter Thiel-sponsored Crescendo Equity Partners. This is one of the largest funding rounds in the Asian blockchain Web3 industry in 2023.
• The capital raised will be used to support plans for the launch of Line’s NFT platform DOSI in January 2024, integrating it with Line's Japan NFT marketplace and offering DOSI as a mobile app globally.

Key Details:

• OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace for a significant period, was surpassed by Blur.io in 2023. Blur.io achieved this by introducing a new fee structure offering 0% transaction fees and 0.5% enforceable royalties, making it faster, cheaper, and more authentic for NFT collectors.
• The recent resurgence in the NFT market is attributed to the rise of utility-based NFTs. Companies like Nike are investing in Web3 integrations and building ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of utility over speculative trading in the NFT space.

Flashback:

At its peak, the NFT market transacted over $40 billion on digital assets and artwork on Ethereum, followed by a significant crash in 2022, causing a 97% drop in the overall NFT market volume.