Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have witnessed a substantial decline in Ethereum gas consumption since their peak in 2021, signifying a notable shift within the NFT ecosystem. Despite an increase in Ether gas prices in May, NFT marketplaces have contributed only 3% of the overall Ethereum gas consumption.
On-chain analytics from Glassnode reveals a persistent decline in gas usage by NFT marketplaces, implying a potential alteration in NFT utilization patterns. This trend suggests that more users might be choosing to retain their NFT assets instead of actively trading them on various platforms.
In 2021, NFTs prominently dominated Ethereum’s gas usage charts, as per Etherscan. On August 4, 2021, Axie Infinity, an NFT gaming project, secured the second position in gas consumption due to its Ronin bridge facilitating asset transfers between Ethereum and the Ronin blockchain. Concurrently, NFT marketplace OpenSea secured the fourth spot.
Fast forward to 2023, Nansen, a crypto analytics platform, disclosed that NFT marketplaces constituted just slightly over 3% of the total gas consumption during a weekly period in May. This occurred during a period of heightened Ether gas prices and fueled speculations that NFTs might have been a byproduct of excessive liquidity resulting from pandemic-related monetary policies.
In the present scenario, the gas consumption attributed to NFTs continues to dwindle. Combined gas consumption from platforms like Blur, OpenSea, SuperRare, LooksRare, and Rarible amounts to merely 1.85% of the total gas consumption across the Ethereum network.
Interestingly, projects like OpenSea and Axie Infinity, which once held prominent positions on Etherscan’s gas usage rankings, are conspicuously absent from the current top 50 list. While NFT marketplaces have receded in terms of gas consumption, the NFT marketplace Blur still maintains a position around Etherscan’s top 30 gas consumers.
This reduction in NFT-related gas consumption underscores the evolving dynamics of the NFT landscape, suggesting a shift from heavy trading activities to more strategic and mindful asset holding by users.
