Recently, I was browsing the community and noticed an interesting phenomenon: people are starting to talk about NFTs again.

Honestly, this topic has been cold in the circle for a long time. I still remember those NFT artworks sold for sky-high prices, which are now mostly abandoned images; project teams have collectively left, pivoted, or shut down; even flagship events like NFT Paris have quietly ended. Hot money has long dispersed, narratives have failed, and "NFT is dead" once became the market consensus.

But in the past week, the market surprisingly showed some warmth. Data indicates that the overall market capitalization of NFTs increased by over $220 million in the past seven days, with many projects’ floor prices rising, some even recording three- or four-digit gains. For those long trapped in losses, it indeed feels like a different world.

But frankly, this rebound seems more like a small-scale game of existing capital. The real issue is that liquidity has dried up to a desperate level. Among over 1,700 NFT projects, only six have trading volumes reaching the million-dollar mark, and most projects’ trading volumes are single digits or zero. The total NFT trading volume for 2025 is only $5.5 billion, down 37% from 2024; the total market cap shrank from $9 billion to $2.4 billion. So, this surge doesn’t really change much—NFTs have long become "old assets," and new capital simply isn’t interested.

What’s more interesting is that everyone is fleeing. OpenSea no longer only deals in JPEG trades, shifting toward token services; Flow has moved from public chains to DeFi; Zora abandoned traditional models and started playing "content as tokens"; even Reddit has stopped NFT services, and Nike sold its RTFKT brand. Even top-tier projects that still have some vitality are stuck in awkward situations—brand influence has grown, but prices still fall.

What’s fascinating is that capital hasn’t disappeared; it’s just moved to different battlegrounds. Pokémon card trading volume exceeds $1 billion; physical collectibles, high-end art, and luxury collectibles are now the hot commodities. Even big players in the crypto space are voting with their feet, turning toward physical assets and top-tier collectibles.

So, are people still playing with NFTs now? Yes, but the gameplay has completely changed.

Short-term arbitrageurs are capturing price mismatches; some treat NFTs as airdrop vouchers, purely to get whitelist tokens. These "golden shovel" NFTs tend to have better liquidity but also higher risks—once the airdrop is over, floor prices often plummet. Another type relies on endorsements from celebrities or top projects, driven by attention economics, with obvious short-term premiums.

But those with lasting vitality are NFTs with real value backing—like CryptoPunks, which have been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The investment logic for these top IPs has gone beyond hype; it’s more about cultural recognition and collection value, making them more resilient. There are also models that link real-world assets, such as Pokémon card tokenization platforms, allowing users to trade physical ownership on-chain. These NFTs tied to real assets have clear value support.

Additionally, there are tool-oriented applications—NFT tickets, DAO voting rights, AI on-chain identities—that have evolved from pure collectibles into assets with practical functions.

So, the current NFT market is very clear: the era of pure image speculation is over. Only NFTs with actual utility, clear value support, or strong endorsements can attract capital. Although this adjustment is brutal, it’s also a necessary market cleansing.