CryptoPunks, BAYC and Beyond: Inside NFTs’ Post-Hype Reality
By Darren Smith
October 9, 2026
The non-fungible token market entered October 9, 2026, in a phase of constrained but persistent activity, with blue-chip collections maintaining floors well below 2021-2022 peaks while secondary trading continued across Ethereum and secondary chains. Data aggregated by trackers such as NFTHUD showed CryptoPunks holding a floor of 32.75 ETH as of early October 9 updates, with roughly 281 ETH in 24-hour volume and a market capitalization near 327,000 ETH across nearly 10,000 items held by about 3,823 owners. Pudgy Penguins traded near a 2.90 ETH floor with 156 ETH in daily volume, while Bored Ape Yacht Club sat at approximately 6.09 ETH. With Ethereum changing hands near $2,490 on the day according to exchange records, these floors translated into roughly $81,500 for the lowest CryptoPunk and about $15,200 for the lowest Bored Ape. These levels reflect a multi-year compression: reports earlier in 2026 placed CryptoPunks near 30.9 ETH in June, already down more than 60 percent from a July 2022 high above 80 ETH, and Bored Apes near 7.9 ETH, more than 90 percent below their May 2022 peak.
Weekly sales figures from CryptoSlam captured in late September illustrated the scale of the remaining market. Sales reached approximately $55.51 million in the seven days ending September 26, a 57 percent rise from the prior week, with buyer addresses climbing nearly 40 percent to 160,565 and transactions near 825,000. Ethereum accounted for $30.33 million of that total. A subsequent snapshot showed sales easing toward the $40 million range in early October windows, consistent with a pattern of sharp week-to-week swings rather than sustained expansion. Annualized 2026 volumes tracked by industry compilations remained far below the 2021-2022 boom, when yearly sales exceeded $20 billion; one mid-year assessment placed 2025 full-year sales near $5.5 billion. Market-capitalization estimates for tracked collections hovered in the low billions of dollars, a fraction of the peak readings above $30 billion.
Major platform decisions continued to shape liquidity. Binance completed its exit from a centralized NFT marketplace, directing users to withdraw transferable assets to the non-custodial Binance Wallet by July 3, 2026, and converting non-transferable items to certificates. The move followed earlier closures by Coinbase NFT, Kraken, and Nifty Gateway. Observers linked the retreat to the prolonged downturn in speculative floor prices. OpenSea and specialized venues such as those handling tokenized collectibles retained the bulk of remaining order flow. A Chainalysis review of the 2026 FIFA World Cup period noted roughly $24 million in FIFA Collect NFT trades alongside more than 100,000 blockchain-distributed match tickets, illustrating how event-tied digital memorabilia can still generate concentrated volume even when broader art and profile-picture markets stay quiet.
Cultural and institutional signals appeared alongside the trading data. The Centre Pompidou in Paris formed a Digital Art Committee under a five-year sponsorship running through 2031 to support on-chain and generative work. Art Blocks scheduled its Marfa Weekend for October 22-25 in Texas, gathering generative artists and collectors. On the corporate side, NFT Ltd., the NYSE American-listed firm formerly known as Takung Art, priced a $1 million registered direct offering of units on October 8, with closing expected October 9; proceeds were earmarked for its NFT artwork trading platform and related projects.
Analysts describing the post-hype landscape emphasized the distinction between collapsed speculative premiums and surviving technical infrastructure. One detailed review concluded that the technology of unique on-chain tokens remains functional for gaming items, membership credentials, and tokenized physical collectibles even as pure profile-picture trading volumes contracted more than 90 percent from peak. Sports and “phygital” hybrids ranked among faster-growing application segments in several 2026 outlooks, while pure digital art sales had fallen sharply from multi-billion-dollar years earlier in the decade.
Key floor and volume readings for leading Ethereum collections on October 9 included:
- CryptoPunks: 32.75 ETH floor, 281 ETH 24-hour volume, 3,823 owners
- Pudgy Penguins: 2.90 ETH floor, 156 ETH 24-hour volume, 5,014 owners
- Bored Ape Yacht Club: 6.09 ETH floor, 45 ETH 24-hour volume, 5,581 owners
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club: approximately 0.83 ETH floor, under 20 ETH daily volume in recent snapshots
- Lil Pudgys and Milady Maker: sub-1 ETH floors with double-digit ETH daily turnover
A concise comparison of recent weekly sales leadership drawn from CryptoSlam captures shows concentration in a handful of names:
| Collection | Approximate Weekly Sales | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|
| CryptoPunks | $8.24 million | Sharp rebound in one late-September window |
| Courtyard | $6.56 million | High transaction count on Polygon |
| Credits | $5.18 million | Steady Ethereum activity |
| Beezie | $1.69 million | Single $1 million sale of item #4365 |
These figures exclude flagged wash-trading volume, which trackers have continued to identify at material levels on certain chains. Participation metrics fluctuated: one September week recorded more than 160,000 buyer addresses, while adjacent periods dropped below 50,000 even as transaction counts stayed elevated, suggesting a core of repeat participants rather than broad new retail inflows.
Statements from market participants reflected the divided outlook. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, stated that the Bored Ape purchased by Justin Bieber carried a value that was “null or even negative” once current floors and illiquidity were considered. In contrast, trader Ansem said in a late-September interview that he remained optimistic about an NFT recovery in the present cycle, particularly around art and novel ownership experiments that combine agents or new issuance mechanics. Neither comment altered the observable order-book data.
Infrastructure and regulatory notes added further context. Illinois draft rules implementing a digital-asset tax measure explicitly excluded NFTs from the new levy, though final language remained subject to revision. Magic Eden disclosed that legacy approvals on a discontinued marketplace contract had left more than $5.7 million in NFTs potentially exposed; the platform said the relevant processor had not been used since 2024. Cross-chain activity persisted on Polygon, Bitcoin Ordinals, Base, and Solana, yet Ethereum still captured the largest share of higher-value sales in the most recent complete weekly reports.
Longer-range projections published in 2026 varied widely. Some platform-market studies forecast mid-single-digit to high-20-percent compound annual growth through the early 2030s, driven by gaming assets, loyalty programs, and tokenized real-world items rather than avatar speculation. Others simply documented the contraction: average sale prices had fallen from several hundred dollars at the peak to well under $100 in recent periods, while the total number of minted tokens continued to rise into the billions. Daily organic sales across major chains often remained in the low millions of dollars outside of event spikes.
Collectors monitoring October 9 levels therefore confronted a market that had shed the majority of its 2021-2022 valuation yet retained continuous bid-ask activity in the oldest and most recognized collections. Floor prices for CryptoPunks and Bored Apes had stabilized in a narrow band for several months, daily volumes stayed measurable, and selective cultural institutions plus event-driven drops continued to record transactions. Whether those patterns mark a durable base or a further grind lower remains outside the scope of single-day order-book readings. Readers tracking the space can consult primary dashboards at CryptoSlam, collection pages on OpenSea, and the October 2 OpenSea digest covering Pompidou and Art Blocks developments, alongside the Binance marketplace closure notice and the NFT Ltd. offering release for primary-source detail.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or trading advice. The NFT market is highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions related to digital assets. The cover image for this article may have been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
