Weekly sales figures in the NFT market broke through $95.48 million for the seven-day period ending August 22, 2026. This figure represents a sharp 170% increase compared to the $35.29 million achieved the previous week. However, this surge hides a major anomaly behind it.
Rather than signaling a widespread revival of buying interest across all networks, the majority of the capital that changed hands this week was concentrated in just a single project.
An Anomaly Named Pandora
More than half of the market volume this week came from a single transaction worth $55.03 million - or around Rp825 billion - from the hybrid NFT project Pandora. If this single transaction is excluded from the calculation, organic NFT sales volume across all networks only reached $40.28 million.
Pandora’s dominance immediately propelled Ethereum to the top spot. The network recorded organic sales of up to $55.21 million, meaning its trading volume represented 78% of the total overall market sales.
Pandora’s appeal stems from the experimental ERC-404 model. This standard combines the characteristics of fractionalized ERC-20 tokens with whole ERC-721 NFTs. Each whole token circulating on exchanges is directly linked to a Replicant NFT, paving the way for liquidity, which has long been a major issue for digital art collections.
State of Other Networks and the Rise of Blue-Chips
Beyond Ethereum, the competitive landscape of blockchain networks showed mixed movements. Polygon occupied second place with $10.91 million in sales, down 9.54% from last week. This figure was also still overshadowed by wash trading activity worth twice as much, reaching $20.46 million.
Base stood out in third place. The layer-2 network recorded $4.59 million in sales, surging 107%. BNB Chain followed closely with a volume of $3.47 million after climbing 93%, while Solana slipped 24% to the $1.89 million level.
Behind these aggregate numbers, retail participants appear to be slowly returning. The number of buyer addresses increased by 49% to 172,739, accompanied by a 50% increase in seller addresses to 159,275. This flow of funds also trickled down to established blue-chip collections. CryptoPunks sales rose 71.5% to $1.92 million, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) climbed 59% to $1.27 million, and Pudgy Penguins surged 244.35% to record a volume of $866,629.
An Illusion of Numbers or a Warm-Up?
This volume surge to $95 million proves one thing: aggregate figures are often deceptive at first glance. The NFT market’s dramatic increase this week was entirely supported by a single experimental project transaction, rather than a simultaneous buying trend across all sectors.
Nonetheless, the growth of thousands of new buyer addresses and rising transactions in major collections prove that the market is not entirely quiet. Capital is still circulating; the difference is that buyers now seem to prefer new liquidity innovations or time-tested legacy assets. As reported by crypto.news.
Also read: What is NFT and How Does It 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.
