September 28, 2021 may go down as one of the most consequential days for the NFT industry. While Bitcoin and Ethereum struggled amid a broader market sell-off — with BTC falling below $42,000 and ETH dipping under $3,000 — the non-fungible token space was busy building the infrastructure for its next phase of growth. From major funding rounds to new marketplace launches across multiple blockchains, the NFT ecosystem showed remarkable resilience even as crypto prices tumbled.
TL;DR
- Bubblehouse raised $4 million to build a more accessible NFT marketplace aimed at mainstream adoption
- Christie’s surpassed $100 million in total NFT sales by September 28, 2021, cementing the auction house as a major player in digital art
- TuneGO announced a revolutionary NFT marketplace built on the Flow blockchain in collaboration with Dapper Labs
- LUXY launched its Alpha NFT marketplace on Mumbai Testnet, targeting multi-chain compatibility
- Blockchain Monster Hunt, backed by Animoca Brands, raised $3.8 million in its first funding round
- New NFT platforms are expanding beyond Ethereum to Flow, Cardano, and Polygon
Bubblehouse and the Quest for Accessibility
The most notable funding announcement of the day came from Bubblehouse, a startup that raised $4 million to create a more user-friendly NFT marketplace. The company’s mission centered on making NFTs accessible to everyday users, not just crypto-native collectors. While established platforms like OpenSea dominated the Ethereum-based NFT market, Bubblehouse and similar newcomers recognized that high gas fees and complex wallet setups remained significant barriers to mainstream adoption.
The $4 million raise reflected growing investor confidence that the NFT market could expand well beyond its early adopter base. By focusing on accessibility — simpler onboarding, lower transaction costs, and intuitive user interfaces — Bubblehouse aimed to capture a demographic that had been interested in NFTs but intimidated by the technical complexity of existing platforms.
Christie’s Reaches $100M Milestone
Perhaps the most significant marker of NFT market maturity was the news that Christie’s, the legendary auction house founded in 1766, had surpassed $100 million in total NFT sales by September 28, 2021. This milestone was remarkable not just for its size, but for what it represented: one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious art institutions had fully embraced digital collectibles as a legitimate asset class.
Christie’s journey into NFTs began in earnest earlier in 2021, when Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” sold for a staggering $69.3 million in March. That single sale had catapulted NFTs into the global consciousness and forced the traditional art world to take digital collectibles seriously. By September, the auction house had continued to expand its NFT offerings, contributing to the $100 million cumulative total.
New Marketplaces Spanning Multiple Blockchains
September 28 also saw several new NFT marketplace launches that highlighted the industry’s expansion beyond Ethereum. TuneGO announced a partnership with Dapper Labs to launch a revolutionary NFT marketplace on the Flow blockchain. The collaboration aimed to bring music-industry NFTs to the Flow ecosystem, leveraging Dapper Labs’ experience with user-friendly blockchain products like NBA Top Shot.
Meanwhile, LUXY launched its Alpha marketplace on the Mumbai Testnet, signaling plans for a multi-chain NFT platform compatible with several blockchains. The multi-chain approach addressed one of the most persistent criticisms of the NFT ecosystem — its over-reliance on Ethereum, which at the time was still grappling with high gas fees that made smaller NFT transactions prohibitively expensive.
On Cardano, Ardadex Protocol launched what it described as the first AMM and NFT marketplace on the blockchain, further demonstrating the growing diversification of NFT infrastructure across multiple networks.
Gaming NFTs Attract Major Investment
The intersection of gaming and NFTs continued to attract significant capital. Blockchain Monster Hunt, a project backed by Animoca Brands — one of the most active investors in blockchain gaming — raised $3.8 million in its first funding round. The raise underscored the growing conviction among venture capitalists that play-to-earn gaming and in-game NFTs represented one of the most promising applications of non-fungible token technology.
Animoca Brands had established itself as a dominant force in blockchain gaming investment, with a portfolio that included The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and numerous other play-to-earn titles. The firm’s backing of Blockchain Monster Hunt signaled continued confidence in the gaming-NFT vertical despite the broader market turbulence.
The Bigger Picture: NFTs Decouple from Crypto Prices
Perhaps the most telling aspect of September 28’s NFT developments was their timing. While Bitcoin dropped more than 4% and the broader crypto market shed billions in value amid rising bond yields and energy price concerns, the NFT ecosystem was experiencing a boom in investment and infrastructure development. This divergence suggested that the NFT market was beginning to decouple, at least partially, from the fortunes of major cryptocurrencies.
Venture capital continued to flow into NFT infrastructure, marketplace platforms, and gaming projects regardless of daily price movements in BTC or ETH. The underlying thesis driving these investments — that digital ownership and collectibles represent a fundamental shift in how value is created and exchanged online — appeared to be gaining strength even as crypto prices corrected.
Why This Matters
The events of September 28, 2021, illustrated a critical transition in the NFT market. What began as a speculative frenzy centered on digital art was rapidly evolving into a multi-platform, multi-chain ecosystem with serious institutional backing and diverse use cases spanning art, music, gaming, and collectibles. The $100 million milestone at Christie’s validated NFTs as a legitimate asset class, while the proliferation of new marketplaces on Flow, Cardano, and Polygon addressed the scalability and cost issues that had limited broader adoption. For anyone tracking the evolution of digital ownership and the creator economy, this was a clear signal that NFTs were maturing from a niche crypto curiosity into a mainstream digital infrastructure layer.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. NFT and cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
christies hitting 100M in NFT sales by sept 2021 feels like ancient history now. wonder what those buyers portfolios look like in 2026
bubblehouse raising 4M to make NFTs more accessible while ETH gas was 200+ gwei that month. the timing was rough but the idea was right
tunego on flow blockchain with dapper labs. that partnership actually made sense for music NFTs since flow was built for consumer apps
blockchain monster hunt raising 3.8M backed by animoca. another play to earn game that probably has zero active users now
multi chain NFT marketplaces were the dream back then. reality is everything just consolidated onto opensea and then magic eden