The NFT landscape is undergoing a notable shift, with sales on Polygon outpacing Ethereum for the first time. According to data from CryptoSlam , NFT sales on Polygon (POL) reached $22.1 million in the seven days leading up to Aprill 22, surpassing Ethereum (ETH) , which came in second with $21.8 million in weekly sales. NFT sales by top projects in the last 7 days | Source: Crypto Slam In addition to total sales, Polygon also outpaced Ethereum in the number of individual buyers. Over the past week, 39,027 buyers purchased NFTs on Polygon—a jump of 81.61%. In comparison, Ethereum recorded 36,544 individual buyers. RWA project Courtyard fuels Polygon’s growth The primary driver behind Polygon’s rise is Courtyard, a real-world asset (RWA) project that integrates NFTs. Courtyard accounted for $20 million in sales over the past seven days, making up the bulk of Polygon’s NFT volume. On April 22 alone, the project recorded $2.746 million in NFT sales. NFT sales by top projects in the last 7 days | Source: Crypto Slam Courtyard sells physical trading cards, with each corresponding to an NFT on the Polygon network. These include rare baseball, basketball, and Pokémon cards, which Courtyard keeps in a vault. The project also features a virtual vending machine that gives users random cards to start collecting. You might also like: NFT sales drop 4.7% to $94.7m, Courtyard dethrones CryptoPunks The rise of Polygon-based Courtyard parallels the trend of layer 2 networks eating into Ethereum’s traffic and dominance. This has prompted criticism among ETH holders, which believe that Ethereum is allowing layer-2 networks to capture too much value from the ecosystem. You might also like: Are DeFi and Layer 2 chains squeezing the juice out of Ethereum: Deep dive on the downfall of ETH Still, Polygon remains deeply connected to Ethereum’s broader network. It benefits from Ethereum’s decentralization and security, and its EVM-compatibility ensures interoperability with Ethereum base layers and other L2s. Read more: Ethereum NFT platform Zora to launch token on Apr. 23
