NFTS demand falls 99pc in crypto crash

DEMAND for digital collectables, known as non-fungible tokens (NFTS), has plunged amid a collapse in the price of the so-called digital artworks.

The daily value of NFT trades on one of the leading digital auction houses for the technology has tumbled 99pc since May amid a corresponding fall in the price of cryptocurrencies.

Daily transactions of the digital tokens have dropped from around $400m (£340m) on May 1 to just $5m on Aug 28, according to market data.

The collectible tokens, which in January were seeing monthly trading volumes valued at over $12bn, have decreased in value amid a cryptocurrency sell-off.

NFTS are a kind of unique token that is coded to be impossible to counterfeit. The tokens have been lauded by cryptocurrency fans as digital art.

Artworks encoded as NFTS, which use blockchain technology similar to the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, have sold for millions of pounds. The tokens have also been used to create unique online trading cards and video game characters.

However, the value of these tokens has fallen sharply, according to trading data from Dappradar. The price of NFTS sold on Opensea, one of the largest markets for the tokens, has collapsed 99pc from its May peak. The number of transactions peaked at over 137,00 per day in January, but have since fallen to around 50,000 per day.

The floor price, the minimum amount users are willing to bid in an auction for an NFT, of leading cryptocurrency projects has also fallen. The floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club, an NFT project valued at $4bn featuring a collection of anthropomorphic simians, has halved since May. Celebrities and cryptocurrency evangelists have piled into NFTS. On Sunday, rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg performed at the MTV Video Music Awards in a video using avatars of NFTS they own.