It's already 2026. Who is still playing with NFTs?

Author: Nancy, PANews

It’s 2026, and the story of NFTs should have long been over.

Once sold for astronomical prices, most NFTs have now become unnoticed small images; numerous NFT projects are struggling to transition, sell, or shut down amidst waves of rebranding and closures; the once-top-tier event NFT Paris recently announced its suspension, even falling into refund disputes.
During consecutive years of downturn, with hot money retreating and narratives failing, “NFT is dead” seems to have become a market consensus.
However, in the week of 2026, the NFT market surprisingly shows signs of recovery, with prices rising and trading volumes increasing. Has NFT truly returned? What are the remaining players still in the game playing now?
A promising start to the new year, prices surge as if from another world
Entering 2026, the long-dormant NFT market finally stirs with a long-awaited ripple.
According to CoinGecko data, since the beginning of 2026, the overall market cap of NFTs has increased by over $220 million in the past week. NFT Price Floor data further shows that hundreds of NFT projects experienced price rebounds in the past week, with some projects even recording three- to four-digit gains. For players who have endured years of decline, their illusions have long been shattered; this market rally feels like from another era.

Although this is only a drop in the bucket compared to historical highs, compared to the freezing point at the end of 2025, the long-lost green market is enough to bring some comfort to steadfast players.
However, behind the price increase, the current market warming appears more like a game of existing capital within a very small range, rather than a true recovery driven by new capital influx. The extreme lack of liquidity is a fatal flaw the market cannot ignore.
Looking at weekly trading volume, among over 1,700 NFT projects, only 6 have trading volumes reaching the million-dollar level, 14 projects have trading volumes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and only 72 are in the tens of thousands. Overall, very scarce. Even among top projects with higher trading volumes, the proportion of actively traded NFTs is only single digits, with most NFTs having only a few transactions or none at all.

In fact, The Block’s 2025 report also shows that the NFT market throughout the year did not see strong re-entry capital, with speculative enthusiasm cooling significantly, and the multi-chain proliferation returning to Ethereum dominance. The total trading volume for the year dropped to $5.5 billion, a decrease of about 37% compared to 2024; the total market cap shrank sharply from approximately $9 billion to about $2.4 billion.
These data indicate that the so-called rebound has not changed the fact that NFTs have long been dormant. Today’s NFTs have long become “old assets,” only held by veteran players, while new capital has long ceased to buy in.
The great escape and survival stories, capital flowing into new battlegrounds
In this long winter wave, from infrastructure to blue-chip projects, different survival stories are unfolding.
For example, leading marketplace OpenSea no longer focuses on JPEG images but is transforming into a token trading platform through airdrops; the once-mainstream NFT chain Flow is exploring DeFi growth points; Zora abandons traditional NFT models and shifts toward a “content as token” new track; even the iconic NFT Paris event has run out of funds and has been reported to have been abandoned by investors.
Even those top-tier NFTs still holding some vitality are caught in a “praise but no audience” dilemma, where brand influence has not translated into a price moat. For example, Pudgy Penguins successfully built IP awareness in mainstream circles and sold physical toys hotly, but still cannot escape the downward pressure on floor and token prices.
Furthermore, the cessation of NFT services by Reddit, Nike’s sale of its RTFKT division, and the departure of Web2 giants have further shattered the last illusions of mainstream adoption.
But the decline of NFTs does not mean the disappearance of collecting and speculative demand; capital has just shifted to a new battlefield. Compared to virtual images on the chain, off-chain markets like collectibles and trading cards are still hotly traded, for example, Pokémon TCG trading volume exceeds $1 billion, with revenue over $100 million.
Not only ordinary collectors, but even crypto elites are starting to vote with their feet, returning to physical assets and top collectibles.
For example, crypto artist Beeple has turned to physical robot creations, with celebrity robot dogs like Elon Musk’s being sold out; Wintermute co-founder Yoann Turpin invested $5 million in buying dinosaur fossils; Animoca founder Yat Siu spent $9 million on a Stradivarius violin.
In the current market environment, ordinary investors need to face the reality of NFT liquidity exhaustion.
Farewell to the small image logic, these NFTs are more popular
After the bubble burst, the NFT market is not in a complete capital drought but is flowing into targets with high profit-loss ratios or clear value support.
· Speculation and arbitrage demand: Some players believe the market has bottomed out, engaging in short-term trading by capturing price mismatches, which offers high risk-reward.
· “Golden shovel” attribute: These are NFTs with the highest market participation and liquidity at this stage. Essentially, these NFTs are no longer collectibles but financial certificates for future airdrops, mostly meaning access to airdrops/whitelist privileges. However, expectations are often short-lived; once the snapshot is completed or the airdrop is distributed, if the project does not empower the NFT further, the floor price can plummet rapidly or even drop to zero. Therefore, these NFTs are more suitable as short-term investment or arbitrage tools rather than long-term value storage.
· Celebrity/top project endorsements: The value of such NFTs relies on attention economy. Endorsements by celebrities or top projects can significantly boost visibility and liquidity, creating short-term premiums. For example, the top DEX HyperLiquid previously airdropped the Hypurr NFT series to early users, which has been rising steadily; Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin recently changed his avatar to Milady NFT, and its floor price has noticeably increased.
· Top IP: These NFTs have moved beyond simple hype, with investment logic leaning toward cultural recognition and collection value, making them relatively anti-dip and suitable for long-term value storage. For example, CryptoPunks, which was officially added to MoMA’s permanent collection at the end of last year.
· Acquisition narratives: When projects are acquired by stronger capital, the market re-prices, expecting their IP monetization ability and brand moat to strengthen, pushing prices upward. For example, Pudgy Penguins and Moonbirds saw significant price increases after being acquired.
· Real-world asset integration: By tokenizing real assets on-chain, NFTs can gain tangible value support, reduce downside risk, and enhance outside-market appeal. For example, recently popularized Pokémon card tokenization platforms like Collector Crypt and Courtyard allow users to trade ownership of cards/items on-chain, with physical items stored by the platform.
· Practical functions: NFTs returning to tool roles, serving specific application scenarios such as ticketing, DAO voting rights, AI on-chain identities (e.g., Ethereum ERC-8004’s NFT-based AI agent identities).
From this perspective, compared to chasing meaningless small images, NFTs with practical utility or clear upward potential are gradually becoming the focus of capital attention.