Pudgy Penguins, BAYC rally masks a shrinking NFT market as volumes and users fall

The two blue-chip collections are leading double-digit gains as global NFT sales volume falls and participation hits multi-year lows. What to know : Floor prices for blue-chip NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pudgy Penguins have surged double digits, with Pudgy Penguins above 5 ETH and BAYC up 81 percent over the past month. Despite rising prices, overall NFT market participation is shrinking, as global sales, transactions and active users have nearly halved since February while average sale prices have more than doubled. Trading activity and gains are increasingly concentrated in a few top collections, much of the volume is still driven by wash trading, and some of the apparent NFT rally reflects broader crypto price increases in ETH and BTC.