The NFT market is silently becoming infrastructure

While headlines proclaim the NFT market’s demise, NFTs are quietly shifting from speculative assets to essential digital infrastructure. NFTs are moving beyond speculation to underpin gaming, AI and Web3.

Opinion by: Charu Sethi, president of Unique Network 

Some argue that NFTs are dead. Others are holding out for the speculative art boom to return with the next market cycle. Both assumptions miss the reality. NFTs are neither obsolete nor poised for another speculative hype wave. What’s unfolding instead is likely the most important phase in their evolution: where NFTs are transitioning into core digital infrastructure underpinning gaming, AI and machine-driven applications.

There are clear signs that NFT utility is replacing speculation, and the trend is holding. According to DappRadar, in Q1 2025, NFT trading volume dropped 24%, but sales declined only by 10%, pointing to lower average prices rather than user exit. AI and social DApps — with the potential to leverage NFTs for agent identity, assets, credentials and access — grew sharply in Q1, and utility categories like real-world assets (RWAs), domain NFTs and metaverse assets showed sustained traction. 

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