NFT Market Slumps 42% to $93 Million as Blue-Chip Collections Take a Hit

This week the NFT ecosystem revealed a stark divergence: while participation surged, actual dollar volumes collapsed. According to data from CryptoSlam (via Crypto.News), total non-fungible token (NFT) sales volume dropped 42.4% to $93.18 million, down from $161.7 million in the previous week. 

Buyers and Sellers on the Rise — Yet Volume Crashes

An intriguing contrast emerges: despite the volume slide, activity metrics moved higher. The number of buyers jumped 33.09% to 509,668, and sellers increased 21.04% to 413,225, even while the total number of transactions fell by 7.63%to about 1.54 million. crypto.news

This pattern suggests increased speculative churn and broader market interest — but not meaningful upward capital flows. In other words: many more participants, but less money being pushed through.

Blue-Chips Under Pressure: The Fall of Pudgy Penguins

The fallout was most dramatic among so-called blue-chip collections. The Pudgy Penguins dropped to $3.8 million in sales, a staggering 76.27% plunge from the prior week’s $15.61 million. Transactions were extremely thin — just 128 recorded, with 73 buyers and 77 sellers. 

By contrast, smaller or more speculative chains saw pockets of strength: for example, the collection Guild of Guardians Heroes (on the Immutable-Zk chain) vaulted 41.06% to $3.45 million. 

Blockchain Leaders See Sharp Divergence

Leadership by network volume also skewed:

Ethereum (ETH) remained first with $35.04 million in sales, but that marks a 65.64% collapse week-on-week (from $102.67 million) and included $4.06 million in suspected wash-trading, bringing the adjusted total to ~$39.10 million. 

Bitcoin (BTC) posted $13.17 million in volume, up 11.14%, with buyers rising 60.49% to 13,462. 

Emerging networks such as Mythos Chain, Immutable, and others recorded relative gains in buyer activity despite lower absolute volumes.

What’s Really Going On?

This episode reveals three key messages for the NFT market:

Liquidity is evaporating. Even with more actors in the market, the money flowing through is shrinking rapidly. That sends a strong signal about sentiment turning cautious.

Blue-chip premium is under stress. Collections like Pudgy Penguins, long seen as safe havens in the NFT world, are now showing vulnerability — the kind of downside flip once reserved for smaller or speculative drops.

Fragmentation month persists. While Ethereum leads, other chains are capturing relative gains in user count. But user growth without volume growth is still incomplete progress.

Looking Ahead: Two Possible Scenarios

In one scenario, this downturn becomes a valuation reset — cleaning out speculative capital, leaving only committed holders, and laying the groundwork for sustainable recovery.

In another, the slump could extend, dragging floor-prices lower across major collections, eroding confidence and delaying new money entry.

Given the data, the most probable near-term outcome is a choppy consolidation phase: active wallets and buyer numbers will bounce, maybe rise further, but dollar volumes will remain suppressed until higher-profile drops, better utility features or macro tailwinds return.

For creators, brands and platforms, the lesson is clear: user growth alone won’t drive sustained revenue. Utility, ecosystem integration, and reinvigorating capital flows will matter more than ever.

Source: Crypto.News — “NFT Sales Plunge 42% to $93m, Pudgy Penguins Sales Nosedive 76%” (October 25, 2025)