Less Than 17% Addresses Control Over 80% of NFTs on Ethereum: Report

According to a new analysis, a large fraction of all Ethereum-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are held by just a few addresses on the network.

Moonstream, an open-source blockchain analytics startup, produced a research on October 21 that focused entirely on NFTs using the ERC 721 token standard. Between April 1 and September 25, 2021, it examined over 7 million NFT transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.

Inequality in NFT Distribution on Ethereum

According to Moonstream’s document, 80.98 percent of all NFT transactions on the Ethereum blockchain are held by 16.71 percent of all addresses.

The 16.71 percent reflects many NFT platforms and exchanges that deal with thousands of these digital tokens at a moment, according to the report.

“There is also a considerable deal of inequality in the Ethereum NFT market,” according to the research, “in the sense that the top 16.71 percent of NFT owners control 80.98 percent of the NFTs.”

Seeing such a high percentage among addresses handling NFTs on the Ethereum network in control of more than 80% of the total available supply leaves about 83.29% of the remaining holders to share a meager 19.02% of tokens within the timeframe of the analysis.

Low Entry Barriers

Although the research highlighted the inequity in the allocation of NFTs, it also stated that the market is still open to all investors, both small and large.

“What this data reveals us is that the Ethereum NFT market is open in the sense that the great majority of its players are small-time buyers who are likely making their purchases manually,” it stated. For individuals who want to join in this industry, there are few hurdles to entrance.”

In recent months, the NFT market has flourished, attracting millions of interested parties, including investors, collectors, developers, and exchanges.

As institutional investors join the NFT craze, excitement is building, and sales are reaching new highs. The NFT market generated $10.7 billion in sales between July and September alone.