Total NFT market cap rebounds past $6 billion; whale buys 45 CryptoPunks for over 2,000 ETH

The non-fungible token market appears to be benefiting from the broader cryptocurrency market rally, with overall NFT market capitalization surpassing $6 billion. However, investors should remain cautious, analysts said.

The global NFT market cap has risen to $6.04 billion at the time of writing, up 16.9% in the past 24 hours and reaching its highest level since early February, according to CoinGecko data. 

CryptoSlam data showed that the NFT sales volume across the global market surged 154% to reach $41.4 million in the past 24 hours.

Notably, a whale with the address "0x1bb351…72d6" spent over 2080 ETH ($7.8 million) to purchase 45 CryptoPunks NFTs today, according to OpenSea. The floor price for CryptoPunks increased by 15.9% over the past 24 hours to 47.5 ETH.

"The NFT markets gain momentum from the bullish trend and increased risk-on sentiment, while Ethereum and other altcoins surge as Bitcoin ranges," Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, told The Block. 

"Traders are revisiting major NFT projects like CryptoPunks due to speculation that NFTs are underpriced and could have a second wind, anticipating that this general bull run could last longer than previous short-term upticks over the past year," Ruck added.

However, the sustained demand for NFTs would "depend on deeper wallet activity long-term," said Vincent Liu, CIO of Kronos Research.

"A whale's 2,000+ ETH buy into CryptoPunks signals strength in blue-chip NFTs and growing appetite among high-conviction players. This sharp liquidity injection will help steer a potential rotation back into premium crypto NFTs," said Liu.

Min Jung, a research analyst at Presto Research, noted that the NFT market appears to be riding the wave of broader bullish sentiment in the crypto sector, while it remains unclear what specifically triggered the CryptoPunks sweep.

"In the 2021 cycle, we saw a strong NFT season, but since then, the market has remained relatively dormant — even during the recent memecoin craze," said Jung. "This suggests investor appetite is returning, though cautiously."

Jung added that the current NFT activity is centered around legacy collections, such as CryptoPunks, rather than new mints, indicating that "we're still far from a full-fledged NFT season, as there's no clear new meta emerging just yet."

Bitcoin edged up 0.37% in the past 24 hours at $118,361, while ether gained 3% to trade at $3,759, according to The Block's price page.