Sales of non-fungible tokens (NFT), known as digital collectibles, continued to decline in September and monthly sales volume could not recover. NFTs recorded total sales of $296 million in September, according to CryptoSlam data.

This figure represents a 20% decrease compared to the $373 million recorded in August. There was a huge decrease of 81% compared to the peak of $ 1.6 billion recorded in March 2024.

Sales volume of digital collectibles fell below $300 million for the first time since January 2021. Monthly sales volume in January 2021 was around $109 million. The decline in the number of NFT transactions was also notable. Total NFT transactions dropped from 7.3 million in August to 4.9 million in September, a 32% decrease.

However, despite the negative data in the NFT space in September, one statistic showed a strikingly positive development: the average value of NFT transactions increased by 18%.

The average transaction value increased from $50.71 in August to $60 in September. This increase may mean larger transactions are taking place in NFT transactions, but the decline in total volume and number of transactions has also raised concerns about the overall health of the market.

This downward trend in the NFT space coincides with increased scrutiny of NFTs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has stepped up its efforts to subject NFTs to securities laws.

On August 28, Devin Finzer, CEO of NFT marketplace OpenSea, announced that the company had received a Wells notice from the SEC. Finzer explained that the SEC claimed that some NFTs on the platform may be considered unregistered securities.

Immediately following this development, on September 16, the SEC fined Flyfish Club, an NFT-themed restaurant, $750,000 for selling NFTs.

However, SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda criticized the agency’s sanction and argued that the NFTs Flyfish sold should not trigger securities laws. These members stated that these NFTs are just a different way of selling memberships.

Despite these SEC crackdowns on NFTs, Luca Schnetzler, CEO of the Pudgy Penguins collection, one of the leading names in the NFT world, dismissed the regulator’s actions as “nonsense.”

Schnetzler stated that it was unreasonable for the SEC to target OpenSea and argued that the agency should also focus on larger organizations stepping into NFTs. These large organizations include brands such as Sotheby’s, Nike and Pokemon.

While the NFT market experienced a significant decline in September, the SEC’s increased scrutiny of this space suggests that NFTs may face more regulation in the future.

Despite this, the size of the market and the interest in digital collectibles indicate that NFTs may still remain an important investment tool in the long term.