Polygon NFTs overtake Ethereum collectibles in 7-day sales

Polygon-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) took the top spot in digital collectible sales after surging 20% in the last seven days. 

On April 22, NFT data tracker CryptoSlam showed that Polygon NFTs overtook Ethereum, reaching a $22.3 million volume in the past week. This represented 24% of last week’s overall NFT sales volume, which reached $92.9 million. 

The network also had over 39,000 NFT buyers for the week, an 81% increase over the previous week. 

Ethereum remained second in sales, with a $19.2 million NFT sales volume for the week. Mythos Chain followed with $14.3 million, while Bitcoin-based collections ranked fourth with $14.1 million for the week. 

RWA NFT collection drives Polygon surge

The Polygon NFT surge was driven by a single real-world asset (RWA) NFT collection, highlighting that the RWA narrative has reached the NFT space.

RWA tokenization refers to tangible assets minted on the blockchain to increase accessibility and trading opportunities for the assets. Simply put, it’s transforming real-world assets like art, property or even stocks into digital tokens on a blockchain that can be bought, held or traded.

CryptoSlam data shows that increased sales from Courtyard NFTs caused the Polygon NFT surge. The collection reached a sales volume of $20.7 million, eclipsing the performances of other popular NFT projects for the week. 

Related: Bybit shuts down four more Web3 services after axing NFT marketplace

Courtyard is an RWA marketplace for graded physical card collections. This includes the Pokémon, basketball and baseball cards that are popular among collectors. 

The platform operates by storing and insuring tokenized cards in a vault operated by a security company. This means that NFTs are physically backed. After purchasing NFTs, users can opt to redeem the physical card. When this happens, the NFT is burned and will no longer be traded in the marketplace. 

Onchain RWAs have been a strong narrative in the first quarter of 2025. Data from RWA.xyz shows that tokenized assets have reached $21.2 billion, with total asset holders of more than 97,000. This excludes the value of stablecoins, which is already at $227 billion. 

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