It’s no secret that the bear market has affected every section of the crypto industry. The onslaught has seen both top cryptocurrencies and NFTs decline drastically from their 2021 all-time highs, and are now trading for a small percentage of this value. However, some have performed better compared to others. In this report, we’ll take a look at both the top NFTs (Blue Chips) and the top cryptocurrencies by market cap and see how well they have performed compared to one another.
Blue Chip NFTs Vs. Top Cryptocurrencies
When talking about blue-chip NFTs, they’re quite easy to spot. These are the NFTs that have been able to reach a high value and were able to maintain their value without wild fluctuations. In a way, they tend to work like the top 10 cryptocurrencies that have had a better chance at holding their value.
Now, when looking at blue chips like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Cryptopunks, they have dumped a lot from their peak. For example, BAYC is currently trading at $103,000 after peaking above $460,000, representing a 77% drop from its all-time high. Similarly, the price of Cryptopunks has recorded a 75% decline after reaching an average price of around $400,000 to its current price of just above $100,000.
Others such as Moonbirds and CloneX have suffered even worse, falling 94.6% and 94.1%, respectively, from their all-time highs. In some cases, a lot of these collections also saw sales much higher than their average prices which would mean an even higher percentage loss if the highest sales were to be used.
Every blue chip's ATH compared to their current price:
BAYC $468k/ $103k
MAYC $112k/ $21k
CloneX $85k/ $5k
Doodles $65k/ $5k
Moonbirds $94k/ $5k
Cryptopunks $399k/ $101k
Lesson learned:
There's no such thing as a 'blue chip'
Take profits as often as humanly possible
— NFT God (@NFT_GOD) March 26, 2023
Conversely, top cryptocurrencies in the market seemed to have performed better. A look at Bitcoin’s current price compared to its all-time high price shows a 59.51% decline, according to data from Messari. Ethereum on the other hand is down 64.19%.
BTC down 59% from November 2021 all-time high | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.comCompared to the top 2 NFT collections BAYC and Cryptopunks, the cryptocurrencies are actually faring better price-wise. There is also the fact that cryptocurrencies are way more liquid compared to NFTs, so their trading volume is much higher.
However, when it comes to deciding which of these two asset classes will hold their value best going into the next bull market, it remains to be seen. Both NFTs and cryptocurrencies did incredibly well in the last bull market, and have a lot of eyes and interest in them.
NFTs are also seeing less participation as total new addresses using NFTs fell from 81,590 in late February to under 6,000 addresses in late March. Meanwhile, digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have seen an uptick in their trading volume and usage.
The number of transactions on the Ethereum network reached a new one-month high, while the number of addresses holding over 0.1 BTC on their balance recorded a new all-time high, according to data from Glassnode.
