NFT

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.

Related: OpenSea · Ethereum · Solana · Bored Ape Yacht Club · Yuga Labs · OpenSea says 32 users had NFTs stolen as part of a targeted phishing c