Ethereum

MAGA

Pepe

Bitcoin

A recent flood of celebrity, political, and animal-themed memecoins, along with a crypto market downturn, may have contributed to a 44% fall in the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in Q2, according Apollo Crypto’s investment chief.&nbsp;
Data from CryptoSlam <a href="https://www.cryptoslam.io/nftglobal?headerPeriod=30d&amp;timeFrame=month" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">shows</a> NFT sales fell from $4.14 billion in Q1 to $2.32 billion in Q2 as part of a broader market downfall.
“Q2 was a difficult market with Bitcoin declining by 15% and many altcoins performed significantly worse than that,” Henrik Andersson, chief investment officer at Apollo Crypto, told Cointelegraph.
<figure>
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-07/06653611-2b71-446d-b2fb-731577c15d4e.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 NFT monthly trading volume since June, 2017. Source: CryptoSlam
 </figcaption>
</figure>
“[But] meme coins are likely taking some of the mind share away from NFT[s]” as well, Andersson added.
Mind share is a marketing term referring to the amount of consumer awareness or popularity surrounding a particular product or idea.
While <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/marc-cuban-nft-sales-2024">NFTs sales have slowed,</a> Memecoins continue to see massive trading volumes, including $3.4 billion in the last 24 hours alone, CoinGecko data <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories/meme-token" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">shows.</a>
Much of this has been sparked by a rise in PolitiFi memecoins linked to the United States presidential election, while <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/celebrity-tokens-dip-one-week-after-caitlyn-jenner-crypto-debut">several new celebrity tokens emerged</a> on Ethereum and Solana.
MAGA (TRUMP) and Pepe (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/pepe-price-index">PEPE</a>) are among memecoins that rose in price in the second quarter.
<h3 id="ordinal-inscriptions-to-take-more-market-share">Ordinal inscriptions to take more market share</h3>
Developments in <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-are-bitcoin-ordinals">Bitcoin-based Ordinals</a> may also drive attention away from traditional NFTs in the months to come, Andersson noted.
<blockquote>
 “Longer term we believe Bitcoin ordinals will continue to take market share in the NFT space, in particular given the many Bitcoin L2s coming to the market.”
</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/celebrity-memecoins-crypto-influencer">Celebrity memecoins highlight crypto’s influencer problem</a>
However, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/did-bitcoin-runes-already-peak">network activity</a> on Ordinals and Runes has also fallen in recent weeks.
Runes transactions <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-runes-transactions-fall-to-lowest-levels">fell 88% from their highest point</a> in June, while both Ordinals inscriptions and Runes have contributed less than 2 Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC)</a> per day in miner fees over the last week. 
<h3 id="nfts-have-bounced-back-before">NFTs have bounced back before</h3>
NFTs made a minor comeback in the last quarter of 2023, tallying over $3 billion in sales, which could spell hope for an NFT resurgence in the back half of 2024.
It included a $1.77 billion sales month in December 2023, the largest since NFT summer started to dwindle in June 2022.
Top <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/a-beginners-guide-to-cryptopunks-nfts">NFT collectibles like CryptoPunks</a> and Bored Ape Yacht Clubs still boast large market caps of $994.9 million and $345.9 million respectively, CoinGecko data <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/nft" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">shows.</a>
<figure>
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-07/da25fe41-560d-4289-9ad9-790b479d8f2c.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Largest NFT projects by market cap. Source: CoinGecko
 </figcaption>
</figure>
By comparison, the two largest Ordinals projects, NodeMonkes and Bitcoin Puppets, have market caps of $121.1 million and $94.2 million.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/meme-coins-betrayal-crypto-ideals-or-true-purpose/">Meme coins: Betrayal of crypto’s ideals… or its true purpose?</a>

NFT sales fell 44% as crypto dipped, memecoins steal ‘mind share’ in Q2

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