NFT Market Heats Up: CryptoPunks & Pudgy Penguins Shatter Records in 2025
Blue-chip NFTs flex their staying power as legacy projects dominate sales.
Punks Still Rule the Roost
CryptoPunks—the OGs of profile-pic NFTs—keep defying "jpeg winter" narratives with seven-figure trades. No roadmap, no staking, just clout that keeps appreciating while newer projects rug-pull.
Penguins Waddle Into the Big Leagues
Pudgy Penguins’ IP play pays off as toy deals and viral marketing trigger a FOMO surge. Turns out brands matter more than metaverse promises when it comes to secondary sales.
The Takeaway
While DeFi degens chase the next shiny farming token, NFT whales keep stacking digital status symbols. Because nothing says "I’m rich" like overpaying for pixels—with extra steps.
The NFT market had an exciting day on 4th August 2025, with Courtyard being the most traded collection and Blur, the largest NFT marketplace. There was continued activity on legacy projects, as well as on emerging projects, with some high-value transactions, and a shift in collector interest.
#NFT MARKET OVERVIEW
TOP COLLECTION #Courtyard – 24H Volume $2.25M… pic.twitter.com/ZwDjsNEQkO
Courtyard and Pudgy Penguins Lead Collection Rankings
Courtyard had the largest number of trading activity among NFT collections, reaching a peak of $2.25 million in sales over an incredible 27,450 sales.
Such a level of transactions is a strong indicator of high participation at low price levels, a pattern that is becoming more common. The second-highest in volume is Pudgy Penguins, with transactions that generated high-value gross sales of $1.67 million with only 28 transactions completed.
CryptoPunks remained a blue-chip NFT as it traded six sales worth a total of $1.09 million. Lil Pudgys, a Pudgy Penguins ecosystem derivative, sold 78 at a total of $437,620, further indicating the health of the ecosystem.
Moonbirds followed it up with $407,370 and 47 deals. Mutant APE Yach Club recorded the sales volume of $334,760 with 32 sales, maintaining its position at the highest level on the list of the NFTs.
Fantasy sports game Sorare has amassed 18,990 sales, and 24-hour trading volume reached the level of $326,160, indicating high activity on the platform. Another surprising performance was Guild of Guardians with a balance of $311,700 and 393 transactions.
Bored Ape Yacht Club which was a market leader, recorded a sale of $288,820 based on seven deals. And Zuki ranked tenth at a profit of $266,130 in 29 trades hence maintaining their position despite previous ups and downs.
Pudgy Penguin #77 Leads the Largest Sales
The highest 24-hour sale was of Pudgy Penguin #77, which sold at $244,110. Four of the top five highest sales belonged to CryptoPunks. CryptoPunk 8124 was sold at $214,310, and CryptoPunk 1834 at $194,500. CryptoPunk #812 and CryptoPunk #839 sold at $190,530 and $183,970, respectively. These figures once again confirm the long-standing popularity of CryptoPunks among the best collectors and investors.
Blur Dominates NFT Marketplaces by Volume
The largest NFT marketplace within the past 24 hours was Blur, which recorded a trading volume of $3.01 million and 662 active traders. Its continued incentives and focus on pro traders have maintained that it leads the rankings.
Courtyard also came in with marketplace volumes of $1.16 million and 1,940 traders, which further validates its healthy ecosystem dynamic.
CryptoPunks marketplace also created $1.09M based on just 11 traders with high average transaction value and exclusive participants.
Meanwhile, OpenSea, which was the largest marketplace, reported a volume of $943,000 with 4,580 traders, signifying wider adoption with smaller average ticket sizes. With its multichain approach, Magic Eden ended the day with 1,890 traders and a volume of $414,000.
Shifts in Market Dynamics Signal Broadening Participation
The gap between the quantity of sales and transactions shows trends that will define user actions. Early-stage collections such as Courtyard and Sorare are enjoying the advantages of low-cost, high-frequency participation and are attractive to more collectors and gamers.
Simultaneously, older projects such as Pudgy Penguins and CryptoPunks are still selling at high per-sale prices to deep-pocketed investors.
NFT Ecosystem Shows Signs of Maturity and Diversification
The NFT space has reached a new and mature stage with a daily sale of more than 3 million flowing through Blur and substantial growth in projects such as Courtyard.
Valued community involvement and integrations in the real world are leading to high interest by investors in ecosystems.
Regardless of low-cost volume or high-value exclusivity, the NFT market is rapidly changing with every day that goes by.
