Examining the Polygon NFT landscape as it navigates uncertainties

• The sales volume of DraftKings’ newly-launched collection outpaced even the blue-chip collections.
• Departure of y00ts dampened the mood of Polygon NFT fanbase.

The non-fungible token (NFT) landscape has had a torrid time of late. With sales volumes plunging to lows not seen since the historic 2021 boom, the sentiment around this once-coveted Web3 vertical has been anything but upbeat.

Read Polygon’s [MATIC] Price Prediction 2023-24

Polygon [MATIC], one of the biggest homes for NFT collections, wasn’t spared from the contagion. According to NFT market tracker CryptoSlam, the network’s total trading volume tumbled nearly 30% over the last 30 days.

The month of July recorded NFT transactions worth $23.43 million. This accounted for nearly half of the total in April, and was 23% lower than May figures.

Evidently, Polygon’s ecosystem froze during the harsh NFT winter. However, some encouraging signs emerged in August, suggesting that the adversity may not last long.

Kings to the rescue

DraftKings, one of America’s largest sports betting companies, debuted its latest sports-themed NFT collection on the Polygon chain, following which the network’s fortunes have shifted dramatically.

DraftKings was the most popular collection over the last week with sales volume outpacing even the blue-chip collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks. As of this writing, sales worth $6.3 million were executed over the last seven days, 25% higher than BAYC’s weekly figures and more than 2x that of CryptoPunks.

In fact, DraftKings was the largest collection over the 24-hour period as well. It edged past BAYC to take the top spot.

With an impetus like this, Polygon raced past its rivals to become the second-largest blockchain for NFTs, trailing only the market leader Ethereum [ETH]. Polygon’s 24-hour volume was recorded to be $2.38 million at press time, with about 54% of the contribution coming from DraftKings alone.

Consequently, Polygon’s August NFT figures were in much better shape. The blockchain already witnessed total sales of $13.2 million, compared to $23.43 million for the entire month of July.

Realistic or not, here’s MATIC market cap in BTC’s terms

y00ts bid goodbye

However, despite the gains made possible by DraftKings, Polygon was not having the last laugh. In fact, its trajectory resembled more like a roller coaster ride.

Barely four months after switching over to Polygon, DeLabs-owned profile picture (PFP) collection y00ts will make its second migration towards Ethereum. The decision was strategically taken by DeLabs to unite y00ts with sister collection DeGods

DeGods migrated to Ethereum earlier this year. It remains to be seen the kind of impact the departure of such a marquee collection will have on Polygon.

2. We're returning 100% of the grant provided by Polygon.

The funds will be re-deployed for NFT ecosystem growth to empower builders and creators.

We still love Polygon. It's just time to unite the DeGods & y00ts communities.

— y00ts (@y00tsNFT) August 9, 2023