September Sees Continued Decline in NFT Sales Amid SEC Scrutiny

NFT sales continued to decline in September, with monthly sales volumes failing to rebound.

NFT sales totaled $296 million, marking a 20% decrease from August’s $373 million, according to CryptoSlam. This figure represents a staggering 81% drop from March’s peak of $1.6 billion, which was the highest sales month for digital collectibles in 2024.

The last time monthly sales volumes fell below $300 million was in January 2021, when they plummeted to $109 million. Additionally, the total number of NFT transactions dropped by 32%, falling from 7.3 million in August to 4.9 million in September.

Despite these declines, the average value of NFT transactions saw an increase, rising 18% from $50.71 in August to $60 in September.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun focusing on the NFT market. On August 28, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer disclosed that the platform received a Wells notice from the SEC, which alleged that some NFTs may be classified as unregistered securities.

On September 16, the SEC imposed a $750,000 fine on the NFT-themed restaurant Flyfish Club for similar reasons. However, SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda criticized this enforcement action, asserting that the NFTs sold by Flyfish were merely a different method of selling memberships.

Luca Schnetzler, CEO of the popular NFT collection Pudgy Penguins, dismissed the SEC’s actions, labeling them “nonsense.” In a previous discussion, he suggested that if the SEC targeted OpenSea, it would also need to address larger entities involved in NFTs, such as Sotheby’s, Nike, and Pokémon.