The NFT market continues to face headwinds amid a broader crypto downturn. According to CryptoSlam data, NFT sales volume dropped 4.7% in the second week of April, totaling $94.7 million. This marks a continued slide from the previous week’s $102.8 million and reflects weakening sentiment across the digital collectibles space.
NFT Market Downtrend Deepens
The decline in sales volume isn’t isolated. The number of NFT buyers plunged by 77.9% to 128,244, while sellers fell by 75.2% to 85,792. Total NFT transactions also dropped by 6.3%, reaching 1,441,009. The downturn aligns closely with a dip in broader crypto assets — Bitcoin is hovering around $83,000, while Ethereum has fallen 13.5% over the past week to trade near $1,500.
The total crypto market cap now stands at $2.63 trillion, as risk appetite fades and capital flows out of digital assets.
Ethereum Retains Blockchain Dominance
Despite ETH’s price drop, the Ethereum blockchain posted a 41.3% increase in NFT sales volume, leading all networks with $36.1 million in transactions. However, this strength wasn’t enough to reverse losses from other chains:
- Polygon (POL): $17.4M (+4.3%)
- Mythos Chain: $14.1M (+2%)
- Solana: $6.5M (−33.4%)
- Immutable: $5.5M (+15.4%)
Polygon has also emerged as the new leader in wash trading volume, registering $2.6 million — a 232.6% jump — while Ethereum’s wash trading volume fell by 9.2% to $2.5 million.
Courtyard Dethrones CryptoPunks
In a notable shift, Courtyard on Polygon retained the #1 spot among NFT collections, notching $15.6 million in sales with a 6.1% increase. Meanwhile, CryptoPunks rebounded strongly, jumping 168.3% in sales to take second place at $9.1 million.
Other top-performing collections include:
- DMarket: $8.9M (+4.4%)
- f(x) wstETH position (Ethereum): $5.8M (new entry)
- Guild of Guardians Heroes: $3.7M (+29.4%)
High-Value NFT Sales of the Week
Despite the market’s dip, collectors are still shelling out big for premium NFTs. The week’s standout was CryptoPunks #3100, which sold for 4,000 ETH ($6.04 million). Other notable sales included:
- CryptoPunks #1182 – 142 ETH ($209,310)
- Pixel Vault Founders DAO #4 – 97.08 RETH ($161,511)
- Autoglyphs #462 – 98.5 WETH ($149,724)
- CryptoPunks #5361 – 69.69 ETH ($108,204)
OpenSea Pushes Back Against SEC Oversight
As regulatory pressure continues, OpenSea has formally requested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarify that NFTs are not securities and that NFT platforms like OpenSea are not “exchanges” or “brokers.”
In a letter addressed to Commissioner Hester Peirce, OpenSea emphasized that NFT transactions are peer-to-peer and conducted on-chain, with the platform merely acting as a discovery engine—not a financial intermediary.
OpenSea urged the SEC to issue an interpretive release or bulletin clarifying that NFT marketplaces should not be treated under the same rules that govern securities exchanges.
The request comes after OpenSea received a Wells notice in 2024, though the SEC dropped the investigation earlier in 2025 following President Donald Trump’s directive to pause crypto enforcement actions.
The NFT market is clearly in a cooling phase, with sales, user engagement, and transaction volumes all trending down. However, highlights like Courtyard’s rise, high-value CryptoPunks sales, and Ethereum’s resilience suggest that top-tier assets and innovation are still drawing attention. Meanwhile, OpenSea’s regulatory stance signals a growing urgency to define NFT marketplaces’ legal status before another wave of enforcement begins.
