So people keep asking me if NFTs are actually still a thing. Honestly, the answer is more nuanced than the doomsayers want to admit.

Yeah, monthly sales dropped from that crazy $1 billion peak back in 2021-22. We're talking closer to $300 million these days. That's a massive decline on paper. But here's what most people miss: five years ago this entire market was literally zero dollars. The perspective matters a lot.

I caught an interview with Yat Siu from Animoca Brands at a crypto conference, and he made a point that stuck with me. He's saying wealthy collectors are still actively driving this space. These aren't casual traders flipping JPEGs for quick gains. We're talking about people who treat digital art the same way a family office might approach collecting Picassos or vintage Ferraris. It's a community thing. You get connected to other collectors in your circle, and there's real value in that network.

Siu mentioned his own NFT portfolio is down around 80%, but here's the key part: he never intended to flip those assets. These are long-term holds for him. That's the mentality shift we're seeing among serious participants. The speculation bubble burst, but the actual use case for digital collectibles and provenance? That's still there.

Look at what's happening on-chain. Billionaire collectors are still actively buying. Otherdeed lands, Bored Apes, that kind of thing. The data is all public on the blockchain if you want to verify it yourself.

The whole NFT Paris event getting canceled? People blamed the market, but Siu pointed out it's really about France turning anti-crypto. Security concerns too—there's been a string of kidnapping attempts targeting crypto executives in that region. Not exactly a market verdict on whether NFTs are still viable.

So are NFTs dead? Not even close. They're just not the frenzied speculation machine they were a few years back. What remains is a smaller, more serious collector base. Whether that's a positive or negative probably depends on your original expectations.