The NFT Hangover: What Went Wrong and How to Keep What’s Left Safe
The NFT Hangover: What Went Wrong and How to Keep What’s Left Safe
By the first half of 2025, total NFT sales tallied about $2.8 billion, a fraction of 2021’s mania. Even that headline masks a harsher reality: dollar trading volumes keep falling as the number of cheap sales rises. DappRadar and CryptoSlam data show volumes declined into mid-2025 even as sales counts jumped, implying lower average sale values—think more $50 flips, fewer six-figure grails.
Blue chips bled the most. Bored Ape Yacht Club, the bull market’s Rolex, has seen its floor crater roughly 90% from peak 2021 dollar prices; recent snapshots put the floor around $39K, down from ~$400k+ at peak FX rates, with stretches even lower earlier this year.
Marketplaces are still slugging it out. Blur’s airdrop-fueled rise kneecapped OpenSea’s dominance in 2023–24; since then, share has changed quarter-to-quarter as incentives and product refreshes shift. The headline isn’t who’s winning but how small the prize has become.
Why NFTs crashed
Rising interest rates and tighter liquidity nuked the “everything rally.” Risk assets repriced, and NFTs, purely long-duration narratives without cash flows, repriced the hardest. The art market itself softened in 2024; speculative segments like NFTs were hit even worse.
Chainalysisflagged significant wash trading in NFT markets as early as 2022, a dynamic supercharged by token-rewards models such as LooksRare, X2Y2, and others.
Creator royalties, initially sold as a pillar of “web3 for artists”, collapsed as marketplaces slashed or made royalties optional to compete. And when royalties vanished, so did a chunk of creator and collector conviction. From celeb drops to “metaverse access,” too many projects over-promised and then quietly sunset. Studies estimating~95% of collectionsat effectively zero market cap crystallized a harsh truth: most NFTs had no sustained demand beyond speculation.
In 2025, traders chasedmemecoins, points, and airdropsacross newer chains. Collections on fast, cheap networks spiked for a month and faded the next
How to keep NFTs safe
If you’re the stubborn romantic or pragmatic long-term collector waiting for a renaissance, your priority now isn’t about ‘the next 10x’; it’s about not getting drained. That means using real cold storage and good operational security.
Tangemis a card-based hardware wallet that stores keys inside an EAL6+ secure element, the same assurance level used in passports. You tap the card with your phone (NFC) to sign; the keys never leave the chip. Firms like Riscure and Kudelski have audited Tangem’s hardware and firmware, and the current product line adds optional seed-phrase support if you want it. With air-gapped signing, eliminating the Bluetooth/USB stack reduces the remote attack surface during approvals and listings.
Learn more aboutmanaging NFTs in Tangem Wallethere.
A cold-storage checklist for NFT holders
What an NFT revival might look like
Expect less gambling, more utility: on-chain tickets and memberships that genuinely unlock perks; game assets that have significance inside games; brand programs with consistent rewards; and infrastructure that makes royalties enforceable at the protocol level (not vulnerable to marketplace wars). Until then, the sensible stance is museum-grade custody.
If you’re still minting or collecting, do it for use and culture, not for exit liquidity.
Conclusion
The NFT market didn’t just slow down. It changed the story from being about the future of museums to a confusing mix of fan enthusiasm, experiments with usefulness, and people holding onto their assets. Treat your keys like valuable treasure if you’re staying in the market. Use a secure cold-storage device like Tangem, make multiple backup copies, keep your wallet address clean, and be careful with approvals. While these steps won’t bring back high prices, they’ll help protect your assets from scams.
