Ethereum’s competitor, Avalanche, saw a 15% increase as NFTs on the network gain popularity

Avalanche (AVAX) is leading gains among the top 20 crypto-currencies by market capitalization. AVAX, the currency that powers the layer-1 blockchain, gained 14.18% and saw a 23% increase in trading volume over the past 24 hours.

The coin is currently trading at about $29.3, according to data from Coingecko. Despite its 25% jump in the past seven days, the coin is still down 80.55% from its all-time high of $146.22 in November 2021.

Total Locked Value (TVL) has also gained 1.74% over the past 24 hours, according to DefiLlama data. As of today, Avalanche has an escrowed value of $2.42 billion.

Today’s bullish action also crushed short traders. AVAX short trades worth $1.98 million have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. Long trades worth $363.8 thousand were also liquidated during the same period.

Growing demand for NFT on Avalanche

One of the main reasons for today’s price increase seems to be the strong growth of Avalanche-based NFTs.

Trading volumes have increased by 30.90 percent over the past 24 hours, according to data from CryptoSlam. The total number of sales also increased by 12%, from 125 to 140 over the same period.

Trading volume for Avalanche’s main NFT collection, Navy Seal Game, has jumped 62.7 percent in the past 24 hours, CryptoSlam data suggests. Other NFT collections, including Avapepes and Pizza Game Chefs, have also seen significant gains in trading volume over the same period.

In addition to Avalanche, major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) also recorded gains over the past 24 hours.

BTC has gained 5% in the past 24 hours and is changing hands at around $24,129, according to data from Coingecko.

ETH is also up 5.3% and trading around $1,772 in the past 24 hours, Coingecko data suggests.