NFT News: NFT Market Cap Drops $1.2B as Ether Rally Stalls; Pudgy Penguins Overtake Bored Apes

The NFT market lost more than 12% in value as Ethereum’s pullback triggered sharp declines across top collections.The non-fungible token (NFT) market has shed over $1.2 billion in value in less than a week, as Ether (ETH) prices retreated from recent highs.According to NFT Price Floor data, the total market capitalization of NFTs fell from $9.3 billion on Wednesday to $8.1 billion on Monday — a decline of about 12%. The downturn coincided with a 9% drop in ETH, which slipped from $4,700 to $4,259 over the same period.Ethereum Pullback Pressures NFT ValuationsSince most NFTs are minted and traded on the Ethereum network, their valuations are closely tied to ETH price action. With ETH down 4% in the last 24 hours, a majority of the top 10 NFT collections saw losses.CryptoPunks remained the top NFT collection but lost around $300 million, dropping from $2.4 billion to $2.1 billion in market cap.Sales volume for CryptoPunks fell 34% to $12.7 million over the past week, with total transactions down 28%.Bored Apes Slip, Penguins RiseThe Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), previously ranked second in NFT market cap, fell nearly 20% — from $602 million to $482.3 million.In a surprise shift, Pudgy Penguins overtook BAYC, climbing into second place despite also losing value. The collection’s market cap fell from $591 million to $491 million, a 17% drop, but still enough to push it ahead of the Apes.Corporate Treasury Adoption Adds SpotlightLast week, BTCS Inc., a publicly traded blockchain company, announced that it added three Pudgy Penguins NFTs to its corporate digital asset treasury.The move highlights how institutional players are beginning to treat blue-chip NFTs as legitimate assets for treasury diversification, lending credibility to collections even amid price volatility.While the NFT market remains vulnerable to Ethereum price swings, institutional interest and the rise of alternative blue-chip collections like Pudgy Penguins suggest that NFT adoption is broadening beyond early leaders such as CryptoPunks and Bored Apes.The short-term outlook hinges on whether ETH can regain bullish momentum, potentially stabilizing NFT valuations.