In September, the NFT ecosystem of the Ethereum layer-2 network Base gained significant attention, achieving the highest sales count among various collections, as reported by DappRadar.
NFTs on Base secured five of the top 10 positions by sales count for the month, with DX Terminal and BasePaint taking the first and second places. This impressive performance underscored Base’s rapid growth as a hub for innovative NFT projects, encroaching on areas traditionally held by Ethereum and Polygon.
Despite the increase in Base NFT sales, DappRadar data indicated that trading volumes remained heavily skewed towards Polygon and Ethereum collections. Polygon’s Courtyard topped the month with $43.9 million, followed by Ethereum’s Moonbirds and CryptoPunks with $34 million and $25.8 million, respectively.
Simultaneously, Base’s DX Terminal ranked fourth in trading volume with $25.5 million, demonstrating an extraordinary increase of nearly 1,700%, according to DappRadar.
AI NFTs dominate September
DX Terminal emerged as the key contributor to Base’s advancement on the NFT charts. The initiative reported 1.27 million sales, marking a more than 1,000% rise from the previous month. Additionally, over 200,000 traders engaged with NFTs during September.
This project introduces a gaming format where NFTs function as AI-driven trader agents within a retro-futuristic market simulation. Each NFT embodies an autonomous character with unique traits and behaviors. These characters strive to accumulate in-game wealth and status while responding to player prompts, rival companies, and non-playable characters.
In contrast to conventional NFT games that offer play-to-earn (P2E) systems, DX Terminal does not provide direct token rewards or any real-world payouts. While the game includes in-game tokens, they lack a connection to real-world monetary value.
In May, DX Terminal announced that its in-game native currency, WEBCOIN, operates offchain and is managed internally.
“The in-game currency holds no real-world value, and any external tokens claiming affiliation are unofficial,” explained the team.
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Gaming NFTs resist larger market decline
Among the leading 10 NFTs by trading volume, only DX Terminal and Immutable’s Guild of Guardians Heroes NFTs, associated with a role-playing game (RPG), posted increases in September.
DappRadar data revealed that established collections such as CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguins, and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) experienced trading volume declines of approximately 50% to 60% in the past month.
Even Courtyard and Moonbirds, which ranked first and second in trading volume during that month, observed decreases of about 25% and 13.6%, respectively.
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