I am increasingly convinced of one thing: the ones who will truly bring NFTs back to the mainstream won't be traders, but young people's identity anxiety.

The last NFT cycle was essentially a liquidity bubble.
People buy profile pictures not because they believe in digital ownership, but because they believe someone will pay more for them in the next second.
So after the bubble burst, the entire industry almost lost its narrative, but interestingly, the real building happened during the bear market.
On-chain costs decreased, wallet experiences became simpler, social platforms began to natively support digital assets.
Music, fashion, gaming, and membership systems are also gradually moving onto the chain.
All these changes actually indicate one thing: NFTs are transforming from speculative items into part of internet identity.
I even think the next strongest NFT scene won't come from Crypto Native, but from the online entertainment industry.
Especially virtual idols, AI Creators, and gaming communities, because the younger generation is increasingly willing to pay for digital identities.
They spend money on skins, profile pictures, limited badges, live stream gifts, essentially buying a sense of online presence.
NFTs simply assetize this behavior completely, and AI will push this to another dimension.
In the future, there will be a large number of AI-native artists, and these AIs won't just generate images; they will continuously operate their own worldviews, characters, stories, and communities.
They might even have their own NFT series.
By then, the object of collection might no longer be a person, but a long-standing AI cultural personality.
That’s why I believe: the next NFT cycle will be quieter than the last, but its cultural influence will be much greater.
Because it’s no longer just financial speculation, but a contest for the future internet’s identity definition rights.
Many people still think NFTs are dead today, but what I see is that NFTs are slowly becoming invisible.
Until one day, people can’t live without them, but no longer call them NFTs.