Are NFTs Still a Thing in 2025?
Photo by Mohamed Hassan @ freepik
NFTs gained mainstream attention in 2021, capturing global interest and sparking debates across multiple industries. This growth provided and continues to provide an anchor for NFT creators, collectors, and investors.
But today, many are questioning whether NFTs are still a thing.
In this article, we’ll explore how NFTs rose in popularity, their current state, and some top-performing NFT collections you can check out in 2025.
How Did NFTs Rise in Popularity?
NFTs rose in popularity via a mix of social media hype and tech innovation. While their origins date back to the early 2010s, it wasn’t until 2017 that NFTs began to gain massive attention.
This attention was fueled by the growing popularity of Ethereum and the introduction of the ERC-721 token which made it easy to mint, program, and store non-fungible tokens.
NFT marketplaces further propelled interest in the space by making it possible for creators to create, discover, sell, and trade their NFT collections while giving collectors and investors a gateway to purchase them.
Social media platforms, such as Discord and X (formerly Twitter), became central hubs for NFT communities.
Digital artists, collectors, and influencers used these social platforms to build communities (like the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) communities), hype new projects, and promote new mints.
Major headline sales, such as Beeple’s "Everydays: The First 5000 Days," that sold for $69 million, and a bullish crypto market further fueled public curiosity, drawing mainstream attention and creating cultural legitimacy for NFTs.
The NFT speculative bubble meant that the prices of NFTs were driven by excitement and speculation and not by intrinsic value. However, since mere speculation can barely sustain long-term hype, the NFT market crashed in 2022, resulting in a harsh drop in NFT prices and trading volumes.
Today, however, the initial excitement and speculation around NFTs has shifted to more practical use cases. NFTs have evolved and have more real-world use cases across various sectors, such as the entertainment and real estate industries.
What Has Changed in the NFT Market?
A lot has changed since the initial hype.
The most significant change in the NFT market is that non-fungible tokens are no longer just a speculative asset class. The market has since matured, and the speculative bubble has died down.
Today’s cross-chain NFT ecosystem is more utility-driven and focused on real-world use cases, such as exclusive access to events, in-game perks, and memberships. These are founded on the basis of long-term value instead of short-term gains.
Improved technology and infrastructure have resulted in new standards. NFTs now enjoy faster transactions, greater interoperability, and lower gas fees.
In addition, NFTs have attracted increased scrutiny, with various jurisdictions attempting to establish regulations to protect consumers.
However, it’s important to note that there are still no globally accepted laws governing NFTs.
What Are New, Exciting Use Cases for NFTs?
Below are some exciting new use cases for NFTs driving increased adoption today.
Providing Access to Exclusive Memberships
NFTs can provide tangible benefits beyond being mere digital collectables.
Non-fungible tokens provide access to exclusive communities, events, memberships, and services. Gaming platforms are already leading the charge, allowing players to compete for various tradeable in-game assets.
Brands can leverage NFTs to engage their audiences by offering lifetime access to exclusive content and membership perks.
Monetising Art and Intellectual Property
NFTs have created new avenues for digital artists and creators to monetise their work while protecting their intellectual property. Artists and creators can mint and sell their NFT collections directly to buyers without relying on a third party by listing them on platforms like Magic Eden, Rarible, or OpenSea.
Additionally, artists maintain full ownership of their digital creations even after sales, unless they transfer ownership of the work.
Thanks to embedded smart contracts, which determine ownership, transfer and utility of the NFTs, their holders can continue earning royalties each time their artwork is sold.
Real Estate & Physical Asset Tokenisation
NFTS are being utilised to tokenise physical assets and real estate, allowing for the fractionalization of high-value assets. This allows for fractional ownership, an approach where multiple people pool funds to invest and own a share of a single property.
Real estate tokenisation, for example, helps to increase liquidity in a somewhat illiquid market by lowering the barrier to entry for real estate investing. Moreover, the tokenised assets act as proof of ownership.
This may interest you: Should entrepreneurs embrace cryptocurrencies?
Top-Performing NFT Collections in 2025
NFT collections are more than just digital artworks. Most have strong community backing, real-world applications, and utility. Moreover, many offer access to special events, exclusive memberships, and in-game perks, giving holders additional value.
Below are some blue-chip NFT collections you can check out in 2025:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club: Launched in 2021 by Yuga Labs, BAYC is a popular NFT collection of 10,000 unique digital apes.
- CryptoPunks: Launched in 2017 by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks is one of the OG NFT collections of 24x24, 8-bit-style pop art pixel character portraits.
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club: Like BAYC, MAYC was launched in 2021 by Yuga Labs and is an extension of the BAYC collection. The collection features 20,000 mutant apes.
- Azuki: Launched in 2022 by Chiru Labs, Azuki is a collection of 10,000 unique, anime-inspired digital avatars.
The Final Take
Non-fungible tokens are very much still a thing.
The NFT market has evolved beyond the initial hype and is now a more mature market with increasing real-world utility. This shift is expected to drive mainstream adoption, positioning NFTs as a cornerstone of digital ownership.
Still, anyone considering investing in NFTs should conduct thorough research, stay informed about evolving regulatory developments in the NFT space, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
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A UK-based digital copywriter, Matt is a skilled and passionate scribe with a keen interest in an array of subjects; his varied written work can range from deliberations on advances in the tech industry to recommendations about the top wildlife-spotting destinations.
When he doesn’t have his fingers attached to a keyboard, you’ll likely find him hunting down obscure soul records, professing (inaccurately) to be an expert on craft beer, or binge-watching documentaries about sharks.
