NFTs: down or out?

The hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may have faded, but they are still far from being completely extinct.

Back in 2021, mainstream audiences learned a new hype term - non-fungible tokens (NFTs). That December, The Merge by digital artist Pak sold for $91.8 mln, becoming the most expensive NFT ever. Fast forward four years — where are NFTs now?

A drop in numbers

The past few months haven’t been good for NFTs. From early October to early November, the global NFT market cap dropped from $6.6 bln to $3.5 bln - a 45% decline in just one month, according to CoinGecko data.

BNB Chain and Polygon saw the steepest drops, at 82% and 86%, respectively. Ethereum, the largest network by NFT sales volume, fell by 25.5% in October, while other active NFT chains - Solana, Immutable and Avalanche - declined by 31% to 35%.

What went wrong?

Multiple factors converged to drive the NFT market’s decline.

Macroeconomic pressure and crypto sell-offs reduced the capital flowing into collectibles. Many NFT projects also lacked long-term utility and failed to engage audiences beyond the initial mint.

Meanwhile, major brands’ NFT experiments fizzled out. The Australian Open, for instance, ended its program selling ball artworks as NFTs after three years, while Nike abruptly shut down its NFT platform, leaving holders frustrated as their assets lost value.

The result? Smaller communities, lower volumes.

But wait, NFTs aren’t finished

Despite the slump, some signals point to evolution rather than extinction. Several analyses argue that NFTs are now shifting toward digital infrastructure - membership tokens, real-world asset (RWA) bridge, gaming utilities. 

NFTs are evolving far beyond collectibles, becoming practical tools for access, ownership and brand engagement. Projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Flyfish Club show how NFTs function as membership tokens, unlocking exclusive communities, events or real-world privileges. In parallel, the line between digital and tangible ownership continues to blur: Tiffany & Co.’s NFTiff collection let CryptoPunks holders redeem bespoke gold pendants, while Louis Vuitton’s €6,000 phygital mini-trunk paired digital art with a physical item and exclusive experiences. On the infrastructure side, NFT technology is increasingly used to tokenize real-world assets (RWA), representing property or goods on-chain to enhance liquidity and traceability. Together, these shifts point toward NFTs maturing into digital infrastructure for access, identity and utility - rather than speculation.

Meanwhile, major industry players have been repositioning and pivoting their business model. Last month, NFT marketplace OpenSea, which has dominated the space in the last 30 days with over 522,000 traders, said it was turning into a universal on-chain trading hub not focused exclusively on digital collectibles. 

A chance to rebuild and expand

The speculative wave may have crashed, but the underlying tech is quietly reshaping how ownership and access work on-chain.

NFTs may be down - but it’s too early to say they’re out. The collapse of speculative minting opens space for phase two: fewer headlines, deeper integration into the DeFi economy and emerging use cases such as digital identity, memberships, and access passes.

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