Back in 2017, NFTs started as an experiment. Projects like CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties were playful trials, testing whether a digital file, an image, a song, or even a virtual cat, could be given a unique owner on the internet. What looked like a niche curiosity at the time quietly laid the foundation for something much bigger.
By 2020 and 2021, NFTs had gone mainstream. Auction houses were selling digital art for millions of dollars, celebrities were dropping collections, and online communities rallied around profile pictures of pixelated punks and apes. NFTs became a cultural shorthand for status on the internet, a strange but powerful mix of money, art, and identity. This was a breakthrough for digital artists, especially those overlooked by traditional galleries: they could sell directly to fans and embed royalties for future resales.
This new niche also pulled in a different crowd: speculators chasing fast profits. Headlines about multimillion-dollar sales made NFTs look like the next gold rush. Suddenly, culture and finance were colliding in real time. The question wasn’t just whether digital files could be owned, but whether they could double as both art and assets.
However, by late 2022, the tone shifted. Trading volumes collapsed from their highs, major hacks and market manipulations, and the crypto downturn redirected attention from collectable JPEGs to infrastructure, regulation, and safer experiments.
The frenzy cooled, but NFTs didn’t vanish. Instead, the spotlight dimmed, the excitement slowed, and innovations in Web3 began drawing attention elsewhere. So what really happened? Why did the hype fade, and where do NFTs stand today?
To understand that story, we need to strip NFTs back to their basics. Beyond the headlines and the million-dollar auctions, what actually is an NFT? How does it work, and why did it capture so much attention in the first place? Only by answering these questions can we make sense of how the hype rose, why it cooled, and whether NFTs still matter today.
What are NFTs?
NFTs are digital tokens that represent a unique item or claim on a blockchain. Think of a blockchain as a public ledger that records who owns a token; an NFT is a token that can’t be swapped one-for-one with another because each token carries a unique identifier. That uniqueness is what makes it “non-fungible.”
An NFT points to a digital file (an image, animation, video, or document) and metadata that describes the item, who created it, where the file lives, and sometimes rules. Buying an NFT does not automatically mean you own the copyright to the artwork unless the seller explicitly transfers those rights in writing. In most cases, you acquire a token and a limited license to display or use the linked media, not blanket IP control.
People buy NFTs for different reasons: collectors want the provenance and social status; fans want access or perks; creators want ongoing income via resales; builders want to experiment with new commerce models (ticketing, gaming, identity). That means an NFT is part tech, part social signal, and part financial instrument, and its value depends on which of those roles matters to you.
The rise: why NFTs mattered in the first place
Two technical developments turned a niche experiment into a market. First, projects like CryptoPunks (2017) and CryptoKitties (2017) proved that users would collect and trade unique digital items; CryptoKitties even clogged the Ethereum network and became proof that demand could be real. The ERC-721 standard formalised how to make unique tokens portable across wallets and marketplaces, opening interoperability and scale. Those pieces created the plumbing and the early culture.
The cultural moment arrived in early 2021. The sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s for $69.3 million put NFTs in front of mainstream art buyers and the general public, a headline that signalled to artists and investors that digital ownership could command real money. That sale was not the origin of NFTs, but it was the signal event that made institutions and the press take the market seriously.
NFTs also created novel paths for creators outside traditional markets.
In Africa, early adopters used NFT drops to reach international buyers without middlemen; Nigerian artists and collectives gained attention and revenue from global sales and collaborations. Those initial success stories proved NFTs could shift how creators monetise work across borders.
How NFTs work
An NFT is a digital receipt that says: this person owns this specific digital item. That receipt lives on the blockchain, which is simply a tamper-proof digital ledger that anyone can check. If you buy an NFT, your name (or rather, your digital wallet) is written into that ledger as the owner.
When an NFT is created, or “minted,” it becomes a unique entry on the blockchain. It can represent a piece of art, a song, a ticket to an event, or even a collectable inside a video game. Once minted, it can be sold, transferred, or gifted to someone else, with every change of ownership recorded for anyone to verify.
Creators can also build in rules. For example, an artist can set a royalty, so every time their NFT is resold, they automatically earn a percentage. That’s something traditional art markets rarely guarantee. Fans can get perks, too: some NFTs unlock access to private communities, exclusive content, or real-world experiences.
The actual digital file (, the artwork itself) usually isn’t stored on the blockchain. Instead, the NFT contains a link pointing to where that file is kept, often on decentralised storage systems designed to preserve it long-term. So while you might see a picture on your screen, what you truly own is the blockchain record that proves your connection to it.
Minting is the process of creating a new NFT on the blockchain. Sometimes it happens instantly when an artist uploads their work, and sometimes through “lazy minting,” where the NFT is only written to the blockchain once it’s sold. Once minted, NFTs can be listed on marketplaces where buyers purchase them, usually paying a small transaction fee to complete the transfer.
Marketplaces do more than just connect buyers and sellers. They enable bidding, set rules for royalties, and handle the logistics of listing and trading. Wallets, on the other hand, are where NFTs are stored, but if someone loses access to their wallet’s private key, the NFT is gone for good.
Creators can program royalties so they earn a percentage every time their NFT resells. However, these royalties only work if marketplaces choose to honour them, which isn’t always guaranteed. Another key point: owning an NFT doesn’t automatically mean you own the copyright; buyers and sellers must be clear about what rights are actually being transferred
What happened, why the hype cooled
The money slowed down. At the height of the hype in 2021, billions of dollars were changing hands each month. By 2022, those numbers had reduced. People realised they couldn’t just buy anything with “NFT” stamped on it and expect to flip it for profit.
The trust took a hit. Some projects were copied or plagiarised. Others turned out to be scams where founders disappeared with investor funds. There was also “wash trading,” where the same individuals sold NFTs back and forth to themselves to create the illusion of a wider crypto market.
The wider crypto market stumbled. Major crashes like Terra and FTX sucked energy and money out of the system. Big hacks, like the Axie Infinity’s $600 million that was moved away scared away many who had jumped in for fun or quick income. Suddenly, NFTs didn’t feel like an exciting revolution; they felt risky.
These factors didn’t kill NFTs, but they did water down the excitement. The flood of speculators moved on, leaving behind builders, collectors, and communities genuinely interested in what NFTs could do beyond hype.
The evolution behind the hype, what’s left, and what’s grown
What replaced the fever? Practical use cases and infrastructure work. Gaming, ticketing, and token-gated communities matured as builders learned from earlier mistakes: NBA Top Shot proved sports fans would use a polished, centralised UX tied to official IP; some gaming teams experimented with ownership models while learning hard lessons from Axie’s economic and security failures. Projects moved toward better UX, stronger contracts, layer-2 scaling, and clearer legal frameworks. These are not headline stories, but they are the kinds of product-market fits that last.
At the same time, the underlying technology found quieter, practical roles: verified digital provenance for collectables, ticketing that fights scalping, limited licensing for music drops with royalties, and experiments in fractional ownership for high-value assets. In Africa and other emerging markets, artists and organisers continue to use NFTs to reach a global buyer base and to experiment with new fan monetisation strategies, but the model is now more measured and craft-oriented than speculative.
Regulation and standards also advanced. The debate over what an NFT conveys (a token vs IP rights) produced legal reports and guidance; technical standards for royalties and metadata improved marketplace interoperability. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s transition away from proof-of-work addressed a major environmental criticism, removing a public reason for moral panic and allowing builders to talk more about utility than footprint. Those changes make sustained use cases more practical than headline speculation.
Are NFTs still worth it?
Considering the silence in the NFT space, the days of flipping JPEGs for huge profits are over, and most NFTs may never hold high resale value.
If you’re a creator, NFTs are still powerful. They let you sell directly to your audience, set royalties, and connect with fans in ways traditional platforms don’t allow.
As a collector or a fan, NFTs can still be worth it when they mean more than speculation, a digital pass to your favourite artist’s community, a collectable tied to real-world perks, or even a way of supporting creators you believe in.
If you’re a builder, NFTs are tools. They’re being used in gaming, ticketing, and identity, not just in flashy art auctions. The worth is in solving real problems, not chasing headlines.
NFTs aren’t a gold rush anymore. They’re becoming what they always should have been: a tool for ownership, access, and creativity in the digital age. Whether that’s worth your time or money depends on what role you want to play: gambler, creator, fan, or builder.
Final thoughts
NFTs are no longer the cultural sun around which every Web3 story orbited. That intensity is gone by design; the market has cleansed itself of opportunistic hype, leaving a smaller, more practical field of builders and creators.
If you treat NFTs as a utility (proof of ownership, licensing tool, access key) rather than a guaranteed asset play, they are worth the time to understand and the budget to experiment with. Build thoughtfully, insist on clear contracts and durable storage, and measure real audience value before you mint or invest.
Read also: AI and Blockchain in 2025: Innovations, Risks, and the Road Ahead
