War Stalls the NFT Bull Run, but Scarcity Signals Recovery
The Internet Computer ecosystem and the NFT community are global. Anything that concerns the global scene is likely to reflect in the NFT marketplace. So while war has brought an incredible month of gains to a grinding halt, the Internet Computer community is still strong and supporting one another, no matter where we live. Let’s look at the top-performing project of the week, and then we will consider how scarcity may help the NFT marketplace to pull out of its suddenly stagnant state.
How ICPuzzle Hitched a Ride on a Dragon to the Top of the Marketplace
For those of you who know me, you know that ICPuzzle was my first NFT on the Internet Computer marketplace. In fact, I won it in a giveaway from Dfinity Community, long before I ever dreamed of becoming a contributing writer.
When I first got my Stoic wallet, there were only three projects available on Entrepot: Cronic Critters, Starverse, and ICPuzzle. So you can’t get much more OG than ICPuzzle from Neel and Weed.
That said, the project has spent the past six months quietly holding its ground, despite a great beta launch of their app for artists and tons of cool puzzles that led to ICP and NFT rewards for active community members. So why did ICPuzzle suddenly spring from a floor price of .26 ICP last Monday to .65 ICP this Monday (a 357% increase)? It may have to do with the first Dragon NFT collection on the Internet Computer which was announced amidst euphoric fanfare last week.
ICPuzzle formed a strategic partnership with the astounding Drakon NFT collection (you can learn more about the lore on this exciting project here). You had to own ten Puzzle pieces to qualify for an OG spot in the Drakon Discord (and a free airdrop & WL spot). The floor started to spike rapidly.
In fact, the floor spiked so rapidly the Drakon team reduced the number of puzzle pieces needed for an OG role to five in order to make it more affordable for newcomers. This immediately shows the consideration the team has for the community.
Drakon appears to be an exceptionally well-crafted project with an ambitious roadmap, stunning art, and detailed lore. The launch is April 8th and we will be bringing more details in the coming weeks.
Of course, Drakon isn’t the only thing ICPuzzle has going for it. The devs have informed me that the free airdrop to holders that’s been on hold for about six months is ready to happen any day now. The NFTs are all uploaded to the canister and awaiting the go sign from Entrepot.
I’m in touch with Entrepot to see if we can acquire the release date for the puzzle airdrop. I haven't received word on the release date yet, but Neel did send us this incredible sneak preview of the airdrop. So long-time puzzle holders are getting the rewards they’ve been waiting for, and new collectors are also about to receive a nice surprise.
Connect with Drakon
Will Scarcity Overcome the Floor Price Stall?
Despite the success of ICPuzzle and the buzz of excitement that we witnessed on the Drakon portal on DSCVR this week, the only other projects to hold or increase their floor price this week are (in no particular order) ICmoijs, Moonwalkers, ICP Art (Tranquility), Saga Legends, the Imagination Project, TheSwordNFT, PatternBased, and ICelebrity.
But even for projects that weren’t able to hold their floor price this week, continued scarcity may help the marketplace to break through the sudden halt of the bull run.
Take Internet Astronauts as an example. Last month, there were over 1,600 astronauts on the marketplace. However, now there are a little over 1,100 available on the marketplace. You also have to consider the fact that half the astronauts for sale are listed at 12 ICP or more.
So not only have 500 disappeared from the marketplace due to sales and delisting, but half of the remaining collection is on sale for more than four times the floor price. That’s a recipe for another floor spike, especially once you factor in how close holders are to getting their first major perks.
And Internet Astronauts are not the only project experiencing increased scarcity. Fewer than 10% of NFTs in the BTC Flower collection are on the market as holders anticipate the snapshot for ETH Flowers. The number of OG Medals on secondary has plummeted as holders got their first taste of airdrops to come, receiving free Eimolad weapons. The ICelebrity collection has seen nearly half of the NFTs on the secondary market either sell or get delisted in the past week.
Speaking of scarcity, two of the new projects to enter that secondary marketplace started out scarce by having extremely limited runs. Frontliners dropped the first 150 NFTs in their collection, and floor price settled in at 8 ICP on Monday. Also, Liquid ICP released the first 69 of 1489 3D Assassins. The floor price is at 65 ICP as of Monday.
The Look Ahead
ICVibesters recently launched and have done well with over 3000 ICP in sales at the time of writing.
Animal Guardians, featuring art from Mark Sarmel just launched. Make no mistake, this project is huge.
And ICDinos launches Sunday, rounding out a big week for the launchpad on Entrepot. See you next week!
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