$3.62B Already Sold in 2025
Whereas non-fungible token (NFT) gross sales could not carry the identical warmth they as soon as did, the NFT area has nonetheless tallied $71.55 billion in lifetime gross sales since 2017. Metrics additionally reveal that 64.78% of these gross sales got here from Ethereum-based NFTs.
Digital Collectibles Nonetheless Command Gross sales Quantity, however the Sector Is Morphing
In the course of the 2017 bull run, NFTs barely made a dent, with gross sales totaling simply over $143,000, in keeping with cryptoslam.io stats. The next 12 months, 2018, introduced $1.5 million. By 2019, gross sales doubled to $3.75 million, and in 2020 they climbed to a a lot greater $22.25 million. Then got here 2021, when NFTs actually caught fireplace throughout the bull run, racking up $15.7 billion in gross sales quantity. In 2022, the sector pushed even greater, reaching $23.77 billion.
In 2023, the social gathering got here to an abrupt finish as gross sales tumbled 63.4% to only $8.7 billion. The following 12 months introduced a slight bounce, with totals reaching $8.91 billion in 2024. Thus far in 2025, the tally stands at $3.62 billion in NFT gross sales. As of Aug. 19, 2025, complete gross sales have reached $71.55 billion, with $46.35 billion of that tied to Ethereum-based NFTs. In actual fact, Ethereum recorded $80.95 billion total, although $34.59 billion of that quantity was wash buying and selling NFTs.
A wash commerce is when the identical social gathering concurrently buys and sells an asset or NFT to artificially inflate buying and selling quantity or manipulate costs. Solana has logged $7.02 billion in complete gross sales, with $588 million flagged as illegitimate wash trades. That leaves Solana, the second-place contender, with $6.43 billion in legit NFT gross sales quantity. Bitcoin ranks third with $5.69 billion in complete gross sales, $123 million of which had been wash trades.
That brings its adjusted complete to $5.56 billion—a notable determine on condition that the majority of those Bitcoin-based NFT gross sales have occurred extra just lately, following the 2021 and 2022 digital collectible gross sales highs. Ronin holds the fourth spot in total gross sales, with the Axie Infinity-linked chain recording $4.29 billion in lifetime NFT gross sales. Wash buying and selling on Ronin is nearly negligible, totaling simply $3,538 since inception.
Axie Infinity’s market and in-game NFTs include design and financial limits that make wash buying and selling and self-dealing methods laborious to drag off. Polygon, in the meantime, has seen $2.7 billion in complete NFT gross sales, with $516 million tied to scrub trades, leaving a real $2.18 billion. Slightly below Polygon, in sixth place, is Move with roughly $1.53 billion in digital collectible gross sales.
Move has logged an estimated $18.27 million in wash trades, giving it a remaining tally of $1.52 billion in respectable NFT gross sales. Trailing Move are Immutable, Mythos, Cardano, and BNB Chain, rounding out the highest ten blockchains by NFT gross sales. Whereas NFTs could not match their euphoric highs, their presence in digital tradition nonetheless seems sturdy.
With 134 days left in 2025, the market would wish one other $5.29 billion in gross sales—a mean of $39.48 million per day—to match 2024’s complete of $8.91 billion. Hitting $10 billion this 12 months would require $47.61 million each day, or 1.57× the present tempo. To prime 2022’s all-time excessive, nonetheless, each day gross sales would wish to leap to greater than 4 instances right this moment’s price.
Gross sales distribution throughout a number of chains demonstrates a broader experiment in digital possession, one which continues to draw curiosity regardless of setbacks. As speculative exercise fades, the remaining ecosystem might evolve towards extra sensible purposes, morphing and reshaping expectations for what NFTs in the end characterize in world markets.
