Are NFTs a Good Investment?
The top NFT traders have made 5,221 ETH to 55,291 ETH in profits from investing in Ethereum NFTs to date, which is worth $9.60 million to $101.63 million at the time of writing. While non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been a good investment for these traders, not everyone is guaranteed to achieve the same success. Besides being skilled, the top NFT traders have benefited from good luck and timing to reach the investment returns they have today.
In particular, blue chip NFT collections from Larva Labs, Yuga Labs and Art Blocks represent over 94.5% of total profits across the top 15 NFT traders. NFT pioneer CryptoPunks alone accounts for an estimated 70.6% of top trader profits, while CryptoPunks V1 made another 2.0%.
Generative art project Art Blocks made the second highest 12.2% of top trader profits, followed by Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) at 5.5% and Meebits at 3.4%. BAYC’s sibling collection Mutant Yacht Club (MAYC) generated just 0.7% of top trader profits.
In other words, the top NFT traders have profited from low entry prices for collections that subsequently soared in price. This suggests that NFTs are only a good investment for investors who can identify the handful of collections that will become blue chips in the future, or for investors who can afford to diversify their NFT investments.
Analysis of the Top NFT Traders’ Profits
The top NFT trader by realized profits is the pseudonymous SethS, who has made 55,291 ETH from their NFT investments (worth $101.63 million at time of writing). These profits were made across 9 addresses that have since been consolidated into one NFT whale address: 0x2238c8b16c36628b8f1f36486675c1e2a30debf1.
The investment returns of SethS are over 3 times of the second most profitable NFT trader, Punks OTC, who has profits of 15,838 ETH ($29.11 million). Mr.703 follows closely behind as the third most profitable NFT trader with gains of 14,624 ETH ($26.88 million).
CryptoPunks Millionaires Dominate Top NFT Trader Rankings
11 of the top 15 NFT traders made millions from their CryptoPunks investments, from Franklin’s 1,782 ETH ($3.28 million) to SethS’ 49,216 ETH ($90.46 million). 8 of these NFT traders reaped more than half of their profits from CryptoPunks, including the 3 leading NFT traders.
Notably, 0x7eb2..3f6b ranked fifth with 7,992 ETH in recorded profits, just by flipping CryptoPunk #5822 to Chain CEO Deepak. CryptoPunk #5822 is also among the most expensive NFTs ever sold.
On the other hand, 0xef6d..4a74, Jimmy McNelis, Akira and Rudy Adler were less focused on trading CryptoPunks.
Meanwhile, Art Blocks investments generated millions for 5 of the top 15 NFT traders. The most profitable Art Blocks trader is known as Akira by their OpenSea profile, and has recorded 5,984 ETH from the generative art project alone. This is followed by Wealthsimple founder Rudy Adler’s 5,320 ETH and 0xef6d..4a74’s 4,656 ETH Art Blocks profits. Along with 0x4bbb..a758 and Pablo Punkasso, these 5 NFT traders may be worth watching to learn about art NFT investments.
Just 3 of the top 15 NFT traders made millions from BAYC investments. Pioneering NFT collector Jimmy McNelis, or j1mmy, is in the lead with 3,030 ETH profits from BAYC. Other Bored Ape millionaires are the controversial Franklin (or @franklinisbored) and Pranksy, who have recorded 2,616 ETH and 2,265 ETH in realized profits respectively.
Top 15 Most Profitable NFT Traders on Ethereum
The top Ethereum NFT traders ranked by realized profits, converted to USD (1 ETH traded at approximately $1,838 at the time of writing on August 7, 2023):
| Ranking | NFT Trader | Realized Profits (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SethS | $101,625,079 |
| 2 | Punks OTC (@punksOTC) | $29,109,619 |
| 3 | Mr.703 | $26,878,728 |
| 4 | Pranksy (@pranksy) | $21,050,026 |
| 5 | 0x7eb2..3f6b | $14,689,296 |
| 6 | Franklin (@franklinisbored) | $12,074,741 |
| 7 | Akira | $11,565,744 |
| 8 | Rudy Adler (@rudyadler) | $11,258,357 |
| 9 | Jimmy McNelis (@j1mmyeth) | $10,781,837 |
| 10 | DJ Seedphrase (@seedphrase) | $10,598,956 |
| 11 | 0x4bbb..a758 | $10,526,575 |
| 12 | 0x00b2..1686 | $9,865,722 |
| 13 | Pablo (@PabloPunkasso) | $9,745,940 |
| 14 | Wilcox (@Wilcox_NFT) | $9,632,793 |
| 15 | 0xef6d..4a74 | $9,595,702 |
Methodology
The study examined Ethereum NFT traders’ realized profits according to the NFTGo leaderboard, as of August 4, 2023. The NFTGo leaderboard ranks top 100 addresses by overall profits (realized and estimated unrealized), which have generated minimally 1 activity in the past 6 months and hold minimally 2 collections. The profits do not account for OTC sales.
Highly related addresses, identified by NFTGo from the number of receives and sends, were investigated for belonging to the same trader, and grouped together where relevant. Traders with no identifiable pseudonyms or names were referred to by their primary address.
This study is for illustrative and informational purposes only, and is not financial advice. Always do your own research and be careful when putting your money into any crypto or financial asset.
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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies & statistics? Check out this one we did on the blue chip NFTs crash in floor price.
Yuqian is a crypto research analyst at CoinGecko, covering a range of topics from NFTs to ETFs, crypto adoption and interest, and beyond. She's especially fascinated by the philosophical and socioeconomic aspects of crypto. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honors from the National University of Singapore. Follow the author on Twitter @solosbrqt
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