So everyone keeps saying NFTs are dead, but if that's true, why are wealthy crypto collectors still actively buying and trading them? I came across some interesting commentary from Yat Siu at Animoca Brands, and it basically challenges that whole narrative.

The thing is, a lot of people confuse a market correction with actual death. Sure, the hype cycle cooled down massively from the 2021-2022 peak, but that doesn't mean the market disappeared. It just means it matured and became more selective about what has real utility versus what was pure speculation.

Yat Siu's point is pretty straightforward - high-net-worth collectors in crypto haven't stopped buying NFTs. They've just gotten smarter about it. They're looking at projects with actual use cases, established communities, and genuine scarcity rather than throwing money at every new collection that drops.

This is actually a healthy sign. The narrative that NFTs are dead usually comes from people who bought at the absolute peak and lost money, or from observers who only paid attention during the mania phase. But the actual market? It's still functioning. The volume might be lower, the hype is definitely gone, but that's not the same as being dead.

The real story here is that NFTs aren't dead - they're just not the get-rich-quick scheme anymore. For serious collectors and projects with real utility, it's actually a better environment now. Less noise, more signal. That's probably why people like Siu are still bullish on the space despite the broader skepticism.