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Company

NFT

Filtered to Product Launches ×
439 articles accelerating

Coverage peaked at 83 articles in 2022Q1 as NFT marketplaces, social platforms and major brands raced to build around digital collectibles, then shifted toward contraction and closures.

Who they are

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, appear in this coverage as blockchain-based digital assets and the foundation for marketplaces, collectible brands, games and social-media features. Stories repeatedly connect the category to OpenSea, Ethereum and Solana, as well as Bored Ape Yacht Club and its owner Yuga Labs, while platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Coinbase and GameStop explored NFT-related products.

The recent arc

More recent reporting is sparse and markedly more defensive. DappRadar data cited in June 2025 put NFT-lending volume down 97% from its January 2024 peak, while Bybit closed its NFT marketplace after X2Y2 made a similar move. OpenSea’s October 2025 story reframed it as a broader crypto-trading aggregator, and January 2026 coverage focused on Nifty Gateway entering withdrawal-only mode ahead of a planned shutdown.

The tension

The central tension is between NFTs’ earlier promise as a mass-market layer for crypto, media and social platforms and the difficulty of sustaining dedicated trading venues and financial products. OpenSea, Coinbase and GameStop represented the marketplace buildout; Yuga Labs and Bored Ape Yacht Club represented branded digital-property bets; Ethereum and Solana supplied the underlying rails but also surfaced security and transaction-cost risks. The later closures and lending decline show the category’s infrastructure being tested more harshly than its early growth narratives suggested.

Why it matters

If the current trajectory continues, NFTs may matter less as a standalone consumer-market category and more as a feature folded into broader crypto, wallet and platform products, as OpenSea’s aggregator shift suggests. That outcome is not assured: major social-platform experiments and politically branded products show the format can still be used for identity, distribution and licensing, but the coverage indicates that durable demand and safer, lower-friction market infrastructure remain unresolved.

NFTs exploded into tech news conversation with 435 articles concentrated in 2021-2022, peaking at 84 articles in Q1 2022 during peak speculative mania before collapsing to 1-4 articles per quarter by 2025. This trajectory—sharper than any entity in this batch—reflects NFTs' transformation from cultural phenomenon to niche tooling. The corpus reveals three phases: explosive hype and celebrity adoption (2021), OpenSea dominance and Ethereum gas wars (Q1-Q2 2022), and post-crash utility exploration (2023-present). Related entities OpenSea, Twitter, Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin frame NFTs within crypto infrastructure rather than standalone category. Recent coverage stabilizes at 3-4 articles per quarter, focusing on gaming integration, legal battles, and occasional cultural artifacts rather than investment narrative. NFTs' coverage arc is complete boom-bust cycle compressed into 24 months, now relegated to occasional mentions when brands experiment or lawsuits surface.

NFT has appeared in 439 articles since 2021-02. Coverage peaked in 2023Q1 with 27 articles. Frequently mentioned alongside OpenSea, Twitter, Ethereum, Solana.

Articles
439
mentions
Velocity
+200.0%
growth rate
Acceleration
+2.750
velocity change
Sources
75
publications

Coverage Timeline

2024-03-16
Decrypt 6 related

Starbucks is ending Odyssey, which launched in December 2022 in closed beta offering NFT-based rewards minted on the Polygon blockchain, on March 31, 2024

Andrew Hayward / Decrypt :

2023-08-10
The Block 12 related

Coinbase's Base mainnet opens to the public featuring 100+ dApps and service providers as part of the ecosystem, after a developer-specific release in July 2023

@BuildOnBase mainnet is here. Time to bring the next billion users onchain. Mint “Base Day One” and watch the NFT evolve as more people come onchain. https://onchainsummer.xyz/base [image] @santiagoro...

2023-03-02
The Verge 19 related

In a letter, YouTube head Neal Mohan outlines his key priorities and teases upcoming features, such as new generative AI tools for creators and Shorts additions

supporting the success of creators, building for the YouTube of the future, and protecting the YouTube community Here's what creators need to know! https://twitter.com/... @youtube : in 2022, Shorts g...

2023-02-24
CoinDesk 9 related

Spotify tests “token-enabled playlists” that let some NFT holders connect their wallets and listen to curated music, starting on Android in five countries

Rosie Perper / CoinDesk :

2023-02-23
CoinDesk 10 related

Spotify tests “token-enabled playlists”, letting some NFT holders connect their wallets and listen to curated music, starting on Android in select countries

Music streaming Spotify is testing a new service called “token-enabled playlists,” which allows holders of non-fungible tokens …

2022-11-08
The Verge 3 related

Telegram adds voice-to-text video transcription, separate topics in large group chats, NFT-like “Collectible Usernames” on the TON blockchain network, and more

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge :

2022-11-03
Decrypt 22 related

Meta lets select Instagram creators in the US test a toolkit for minting NFTs and selling them on and off the platform, and says it won't charge fees until 2024

Instagram will soon have NFT creation and trading tools built in, but in-app purchases will be “subject to applicable app store fees.”

2022-11-01
CoinDesk 9 related

GameStop launches its NFT marketplace out of beta on the Ethereum-based ImmutableX platform, letting users access Web3 games on the layer 2 scaling product

Cameron Thompson / CoinDesk :

2022-09-16
The Block 18 related

Ethereum activates its long-awaited Merge upgrade, in development since 2020, and transactions are now being processed under proof of stake

First off, thank you for reading and as always, nothing you read or hear of my content is ever financial advice. Ryan Whitwam / ExtremeTech : Ethereum Switches to Proof-of-Stake, Will Reduce Global En...

2022-08-06
CoinDesk 13 related

Meta begins rolling out NFT support on Instagram in 100 countries after launching Coinbase Wallet and Dapper integrations and support for the Flow blockchain

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Quarterly Coverage

Top Sources

Narrative

NFT has appeared in 354 tech news articles since February 2021. The biggest stories include Sources: GameStop has hired more than 20 people to run a new division developing an NFT... and Reddit launches an NFT-based avatar marketplace with 90 profile pictures available for.... Frequently covered alongside OpenSea, Ethereum, Solana, ETH, and Twitter. Coverage has shifted toward enterprise, developer themes and away from consumer, funding.

Key Moments

2024Q2enterprise -25pts; safety +33pts; developer +8pts
2024Q3safety -33pts; funding +67pts
2025Q2enterprise +40pts; developer -33pts; consumer -13pts

Relationships

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