NFT Market Bloodbath: $1.2B Wiped Out as ETH Stumbles, Pudgy Penguins Dethrone Apes

The NFT space just took a brutal hit. In less than a week, the entire market shed $1.2 billion — dropping from $9.3B to $8.1B. That’s roughly 12% down the drain.

What triggered the carnage? Simple: Ethereum tanked 9%, sliding from $4,700 to $4,259. Since almost all NFTs live on the Ethereum network, when ETH bleeds, so do your digital assets.

The Damage Report

CryptoPunks held its throne as #1, but still lost ~$300M in market cap (from $2.4B → $2.1B). Sales volume cratered 34% to $12.7M weekly.

Bored Apes got hit harder — down nearly 20% from $602M to $482M. Ouch.

Here’s the plot twist: Pudgy Penguins climbed into second place, overtaking BAYC. While Penguins also dropped 17% (from $591M → $491M), the decline was gentler, enough to flip the rankings.

Institutional Armor Forming?

Amid the chaos, BTCS Inc. (publicly traded blockchain firm) added three Pudgy Penguins NFTs to its corporate treasury. This signals something important: institutions are quietly treating blue-chip NFTs as legitimate portfolio assets, not just gambling chips. Even when prices wobble, serious money keeps showing up.

The bottom line: Short-term NFT health depends entirely on whether ETH rebounds. But the broader story? Institutional adoption is diversifying beyond the old guard (CryptoPunks, BAYC). The market’s maturing, even if the price action looks brutal right now.