Hype fades as NFT platforms lose users

The NFT market has reached its lowest point in a year and a half, suggesting a long winter in digital collectibles ahead. Their sales volume fell to $823 million in the second quarter of 2025, down from $4 billion over the same period in 2024, according to a new report by DappRadar.

That’s a 19% drop from the first quarter of this year and the fifth consecutive quarterly decline. This ongoing bust paints a bleak picture for digital collectible investors and creators.

So far, 2025 is the worst year in NFT history, with no real recovery prospects. Nearly every part of the industry is reeling from the steep drop, from well-established collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club to newer and smaller projects vying to prove their worth and utility.

There are several reasons behind the decline, experts say. Interest has waned among the retail traders who, in recent months, flocked to digital collectibles in search of a quick buck. High gas fees on Ethereum, dwindling media buzz, and increasing skepticism about the long-term value of NFTs haven’t helped, either. In other words, fewer people buy, sell, or talk about digital collectibles.

Hype fades as NFT platforms lose users

NFTs came crashing into the mainstream in 2021 and 2022. They made millionaires overnight from artists and spawned a new generation of digital collectors. Landmark sales, most notably the Beeple auction at Christie’s, which took in $69 million, made headlines around the globe. In this golden age, trading volume in digital collectibles soared past $50 billion a year, and some crude cartoon images changed hands for more than $500,000 apiece.

But the gold rush didn’t go on forever. But just as rapidly as NFTs ascended, they began to tumble. Prices began to tumble in mid-2022, erasing billions in value. Collections that once commanded high-profile attention now sell for a fraction of their peak prices. Numerous investors are now left clutching essentially worthless assets.

The decline in traffic and trading activity has impacted even major NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, once the dominant platform for collectors. Others, including LooksRare and Blur, are dangling heavy incentives to keep users to little avail.

Not even bands and celebrities that were once most aggressively promoting digital collectibles — from basketball players to internet stars — are making much noise. Many projects launched during the hype period are either dead or claimed to be scams. With buyer sentiment down, the mood around digital collectibles has turned to cautious optimism and even skepticism.

Trump launches NFTs but fails to revive market

And one of the last high-profile figures still pushing digital collectibles is the US president, Donald Trump. Since taking the political stage again, he has released four NFT collections, all dedicated to bold and sometimes humorous interpretations of himself, images of himself in superhero outfits, clutching gold bars, or even appearing to hug the cryptocurrency Bitcoin symbolically.

Each of his prior releases has sold out within hours. Trump also held a special NFT holders’ dinner in 2023 that attracted a lot of media coverage. The NFT drops have become part of his fundraising strategy, a mishmash of politics, pop culture, and crypto.

But even Trump’s celebrity draw hasn’t reversed the broader tide. The Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Collections Index, which measures the performance of top NFT art and collectible projects, has dropped 52% since January 2024, when Trump’s re-election campaign started to heat up. This tells us that though stock drops from new infections may cause an initial blip of interest, they don’t seem to move markets back sustainably.

Meanwhile, other segments of the crypto space are proving more resilient. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum rebounded in price in 2024 thanks to institutional investment and optimism around exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But NFTs have not benefited from that bounce.

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