February 2021 was an exciting month for the crypto industry as we saw all-time highs set across the board.
While the new all-time highs (ATHs) for Bitcoin ($58, 000) and Ethereum ($2, 000) stole the show, there was actually increased activity across emerging and fast-growing verticals such as the DeFi and NFT ecosystems.
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Below is a highlight of what February 2021 was in the crypto space:
- Binance Smart Chain (BSC) surpassed Ethereum in both transaction volume and unique active wallets (UAWs) generating more than $700 billion in transaction volumes compared to $181 billion on Ethereum
- The Ethereum DeFi ecosystem continues to lead in total value locked (TVL) surpassing $40 billion – 4x compared to BSC which stands at $9.5 billion
- TVL on BSC grew 19x in February 2021 alone
- $400 billion in the BSC transaction volumes came from Venus, a DeFi dapp
- In February 2021 alone, 77 new DeFi dapps were launched on BSC – 2x than on Ethereum
- The NFT sector had its best month so far with NBA Top Shot responsible for 67% of the transaction volumes
- Ethereum mainnet saw a 9% decrease in UAWs from January 2021 suggesting a downtrend in user activity
- BSC saw a 27% increase from January 2021 to more than 108, 000 UAWs
- 60% of BSC activity comes from the top 5 dapps raising the issue of sustainability
- The top exit scam on DeFi was Prosper which disappeared with $5.57 million of investor funds
- The top 3 NFT dapps grew from $71 million to $342 million – NBA Top Shot, OpenSea, CryptoPunks
- NBA Top Shot reached ATH sales of over $226 million resulting in frequent technical and website issues due to over-demand
- The most extraordinary NFT sale took place in the last week of February 2021 on the Nifty Gateway secondary market at $6.6 million – Beeple’s Crossroad artwork
- CryptoPunks generated ATH volumes of $79 million with the floor price increasing from around $10, 000 to more than $40, 000
- The emergence of BSC copycats raised debate over its reliance on copying Ethereum projects without any additional value
Based on February 2021 stats, it is clear that the NFT sector has started to show its real potential based on ATH sales on both earlier and newer projects.
While some might argue that the trend to copy top Ethereum NFT and DeFi dapps and deploy them on BSC will devalue original artwork and design, a big part of the value of an NFT collectible is tied to its uniqueness.
This uniqueness is verifiable on the blockchain, as well as the date of creation and the history of ownership. Therefore there can never be a doubt about which project was first.
Sure, copies might threaten the value of an original, but we’ve seen many copies in the physical world. For instance, there have been plenty of copies of the Mona Lisa, but these have not affected the price or status of the original at all. One might even argue, it only strengthens its position as one of the most valuable paintings in the world.
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RECOMMENDED READING: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are Seeing a Big Boom with Over $100 Million Sold in 2021 So Far
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