Global NFT sales volume fell 44.70% over the past week to $63.33 million as of August 29, 2026, tumbling from $114.5 million in the previous period, according to data from CryptoSlam.
Even though total trading capital contracted sharply, market participation moved in the opposite direction. Unique buyer addresses rose 30.48% to reach 227,316 wallets, while seller addresses surged 54.64% to 247,373. This paradox of growing participant numbers amid shrinking capital occurred alongside a 14.13% drop in total transactions to 802,330.
Ethereum Leads, Polygon Dominated by Wash Trading
The top six blockchains accounted for a 94% majority of total organic sales, which reached $59.56 million. Ethereum retained the top spot as the largest NFT chain with $35.56 million in organic volume, despite its sales figures dropping 49.01%. Wash trading activity on the network remained low at $1.66 million.
A different transaction pattern emerged on Polygon. The network posted $7.03 million in organic sales, but its wash trading activity spiked sharply to $18.19 million - more than double its genuine transactions. In terms of collection rankings, Courtyard on Polygon took first place with $6.09 million in volume, followed by Argonauts on Ethereum at $5.70 million.
The rest of the blockchain rankings showed mixed results. BNB Chain recorded a 20.47% decline to $2.81 million. Solana stood out as a top performer with an 11.17% gain to $1.91 million, followed by Immutable with an 18.38% jump to $1.87 million.
Single Bitcoin Transaction Cushions Market Decline
Amid sluggish overall volume, multi-million dollar transactions emerged from the Bitcoin ecosystem. The $X@AGI BRC-20 NFT collection generated $2.58 million in sales volume after surging 74.89%. That entire volume originated from just three transactions across three unique buyers.
In fact, the week’s largest single transaction was logged by a BRC-20 NFT sold for $2.14 million, or 27.18 BTC. This single unit sale accounted for 83% of the collection’s total volume and represented 3.4% of all global NFT sales for the entire week.
Price trends for legacy collections split in divergent directions. CryptoPunks gained 7.64% to $2.07 million across 19 sales, and Pudgy Penguins rose 27.19% to $1.04 million. However, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) fell 23.03% to $977,831.
Activity also emerged from the decentralized finance sector. An asset named Flying Tulip PUT #8494 was purchased for $484,791, or roughly 200 wETH. Rather than digital profile artwork, this NFT represents a perpetual put position in the market, blurring the line between visual assets and derivative instruments.
The influx of hundreds of thousands of new users has not yet been able to fill the liquidity void left by large capital holders. As long as capital circulation remains dominated by assets like BRC-20 and derivative instruments, retail participants appear to be largely trading among themselves with small amounts of capital.
Reported by crypto.news.
Read also: What Are NFTs and How Do They Work?
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
