In today’s top NFT updates on February 15, 2024: ZachXBT and Coffeezilla level allegations against KSI regarding pump-and-dump schemes, Pandora’s sales volume for the month surpasses Ordinals by almost twofold, and the floor price of Pudgy Penguins experiences a significant surge.
NFT Market Data
Today, the sales volume in the non-fungible token (NFT) market has slightly decreased compared to yesterday, with a drop of less than 1% to $34,816,770, as reported by CryptoSlam.
Over the past day, there has been a 2% increase in NFT buyers, while sellers have decreased by 8% and transactions by 11%.
Among the top ten collections ranked by sales volume, only two have experienced decreases in the past 24 hours. The widely-known ERC404-based collection, Pandora, saw a decline of 30% to 4.2 million, while DMarket dropped by 5% to $757,178.
In contrast, Art Blocks has had a notably positive day, emerging as the biggest gainer with a remarkable 588% increase in sales volume, reaching $774,173.
Another notable performer is Moonbirds, experiencing a rise of 304% to $690,352, which propelled it into the top ten collections, currently holding the 10th position.
YouTuber KSI Accused of Pump-and-Dumps
Renowned crypto sleuths ZachXBT and Coffeezilla have leveled accusations against popular YouTuber Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, better known as KSI, alleging his involvement in multiple pump-and-dump schemes.
KSI recently reactivated his cryptocurrency-related Twitter account on Tuesday, marking his first tweet since November 2022. However, the reception to this news wasn’t exactly warm, as evident from the comments.
One of the investigators, ZachXBT, wasted no time in expressing skepticism, stating that KSI will likely share “garbage again.”
ZachXBT further highlighted projects that KSI had promoted on his account, including XCAD Network (XCAD) and the NFT-centric Ethernity Chain (ERN). Allegedly, KSI would laud these projects publicly only to swiftly sell off the associated coins within hours or days. For instance, shortly after expressing bullish sentiments towards EARN, he purportedly offloaded $349,571 worth of it.
When contacted by Coffeezilla, KSI responded by asserting his allegiance to the “HODL gang” philosophy for those coins, indicating his intention to hold onto them without selling. However, when questioned about why he did sell XCAD, KSI explained that his aim was to generate more profit elsewhere to reinvest in purchasing more XCAD, though this endeavor proved unsuccessful.
KSI further clarified that he harbored no malicious intentions to deceive or scam others, expressing a wishful desire to possess the strategic acumen of an “evil genius” capable of executing successful pump-and-dump schemes, but admitted his lack of investment prowess.
In response to allegations of inconsistencies, KSI attributed his actions to feeling targeted by online trolling. He claimed that each time he posted something, the opposite outcome would occur, prompting him to adopt a strategy of tweeting the opposite of what he was actually doing.
Pandora’s Sales Volume Nearly Double That of Ordinals
In recent NFT developments, the renowned ERC-404 token Pandora made its debut on February 2. Within just under two weeks of its launch, it has surged to a remarkable $86,778,798 in sales volume, as reported by CryptoSlam.
This surge is particularly notable when compared to other prominent collections. For instance, Uncategorized Ordinals, the second-highest in sales volume over the past 30 days, recorded $44,045,731. This indicates that Pandora has nearly doubled that figure in a significantly shorter timeframe.
However, when considering other metrics, such as transactions, buyers, and sellers, Uncategorized Ordinals surpasses Pandora despite experiencing a decrease in numbers.
Additionally, within a mere week of its launch, the popular ERC-404 token witnessed a trading volume of $190 million. Impressively, half of these NFTs have been held in wallets since their initial purchase without being sold, a feat described as “quite impressive” by blockchain analytics firm Nansen.ai for a new project.
Despite these early successes, when comparing Pandora to the all-time best performers in the NFT space, it still has room for growth. The top ten list comprises globally renowned collections like Axie Infinity and Yuga Labs’ creations, while Pandora currently holds the 80th position.
Pudgy Penguins Floor Price Flies High
Pudgy Penguins, an Ethereum-based NFT collection consisting of 8,888 pieces, was initially launched in July 2021 and has steadily gained popularity since then.
The total volume of the collection amounts to 293,837 ETH, as reported on the OpenSea marketplace.
Currently, the floor price stands at 20.899 ETH, showing a continuous upward trend. Over the past 90 days, the floor price has surged by an impressive 257.3%.
In mid-November, the price was at 5.85 ETH. After maintaining a relatively stable range between 10-11 ETH, it experienced a significant spike from 11 ETH to nearly 20 ETH within a week in mid-January.
Subsequently, the floor price peaked at 22 ETH on both February 11 and February 12.
Despite a 5% drop since then, the price remains at noteworthy levels, indicating the collection’s enduring appeal and market demand.
In terms of related collections, Lil Pudgys currently boasts a floor price of 2.02 ETH. This collection has also experienced a substantial surge over the past 90 days, with its floor price escalating by 349% from 0.45 ETH noted on November 17.
Similar to Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys saw a significant increase in mid-January, jumping from 0.875 ETH to 1.9655 ETH, and reaching 2.39 ETH on February 11. Its total volume stands at 52,872 ETH.
On the other hand, Pudgy Rod’s floor price is currently at 0.6169 ETH. Over the last three months, it has witnessed a notable increase of 95% from 0.316 ETH. Its peak value was 1 ETH on January 27, and the collection has amassed a total volume of 15,338 ETH.
