At 3 p.m., as most colleagues were slowly ending their day, a 23-year-old man who calls himself "0xExceed" was just beginning his day. In his apartment in Asia, he rubbed his sleepy eyes, brewed a cup of coffee, and logged into Discord.
For the next 14 hours, until around 5 a.m., he will be managing their NFT project with his co-founders, coordinating with artists from different time zones, and interacting with a community of thousands.
In 2021, such an arrangement might not have attracted attention, but in 2025, when most mainstream observers have dismissed NFTs as a fleeting fashion, 0xExceed's dedication seems out of place, his university classmates are seeking career development in AI startups or TikTok brokerage companies, while he and his team are still passionate about digital art ownership.
He is not alone. NFT communities like Pudgy Penguins, Remilia, Azuki, and Claynosaurz are still working hard, seemingly oblivious to the NFT winter. These projects have very different goals and communities: Azuki's mission is to "pay tribute to anime cultural heritage," while Pudgy Penguins are mass-producing adorable plush penguins at Walmart, and Remilia is advancing a political and cultural movement that is broadly defined as "cyber spirituality," but they all have one thing in common, and that is NFTs.
"People always say NFTs are dead, but our community is still passionate." 0xExceed said that the company's recent "Pixel vs Pixel" art competition attracted hundreds of entries from around the world, "Technology is developing and we are also progressing."
This persistence is not an isolated case. Although NFT trading volume has fallen sharply from its peak in 2021, the communities of creators and collectors are still thriving. Devin Finzer, CEO and co-founder of OpenSea, the world's largest NFT trading platform, said that this evolution is exactly what we expected.
"If you look around, there's a lot of exciting things happening in the tech space with the rise of AI, it's getting easier and easier to create content and build software applications." Finzer explained in a recent interview: "Our main argument is that cryptocurrency and blockchain are the key infrastructure for all the current technological developments."
NFT Data
The raw data reveals a dramatic story: NFT trading volume plummeted from a peak of over $3.2 billion per week in August 2021 to less than $100 million currently. A 97% drop might suggest that the NFT market has entered the late stages of decline, but Finzer sees a more nuanced reality.
"In early 2021, some alternatives to what NFTs represent began to emerge." Finzer explained, referring to the explosion of meme coins, which attracted billions of dollars in trading volume, "Some of them have been absorbed by the meme coin craze because meme coins are more liquid, fungible, and you can trade and move in and out of them more easily."
Many successful NFT projects are also evolving by embracing their own ecosystem tokens, creating hybrid models that combine the community characteristics of NFTs with the liquidity of fungible tokens, "A good example is that many NFT projects now include both tokens and NFTs." Finzer explained.
This market shift occurred alongside fierce competition for NFT market dominance. OpenSea's journey reflects this volatility, with its market share plummeting from over 70% in 2021 to 15% in 2022, before rebounding to 58% after recent platform upgrades and ecosystem token launches.
Another significant change is that NFTs have become cheaper, not only because of the price collapse, but also because the cost of buying and selling NFTs has been significantly reduced, "We now have faster, cheaper, higher-throughput blockchains, and you can have a complete economy where an NFT costs only 50 cents, or even the rarest NFT costs only $50. Compared to 2021, the ecosystem is much healthier now, when the cheapest NFT cost at least $1,000 or even $5,000."
At the same time, related digital ownership models are booming, with (Counter-Strike) skins recently hitting record highs with a market capitalization of nearly $5 billion. Finzer attributes this success in part to its convenience: "If you buy (Counter-Strike) in-game skins, you don't have to worry about self-custody or wallet issues."
NFTs in a positive regulatory environment
Fortunately for OpenSea, some recent rulings, especially the landmark court ruling between Apple and Epic Games, will revolutionize the accessibility of NFTs on mobile platforms. The ruling effectively ended Apple's monopoly in the field of in-app payments, bringing huge opportunities to NFT markets such as OpenSea.
When asked about the impact of the ruling, Finzer responded enthusiastically: "We just released the public beta of OS2, which is a brand new version of OpenSea that allows you to discover and trade any on-chain asset."
Finzer explained that the court ruling directly addresses a major obstacle: "Our next plan is to bring this service to mobile in the most delightful way possible, making it easy for people to get started." He stressed: "Apple's ruling will be very helpful in this regard, because the in-app purchase issue has been bothering us for a long time."
This change means that users will soon be able to purchase NFTs directly through the iOS app without paying high fees. Previously, OpenSea's mobile app did not support purchases because Apple's 30% commission made its peer-to-peer market model "prohibitively expensive." Finzer believes that the removal of these restrictions will lower the barrier to entry and be "very beneficial" to consumers, who will be able to experience NFTs more easily on mobile devices.
Finzer said that the regulatory environment for NFTs and cryptocurrencies more broadly has improved significantly. With recent political changes in the United States, many investigations into cryptocurrency companies have ended. He noted that during the previous period of regulatory uncertainty, many smaller creators hesitated to participate in the ecosystem.
The Cultural Significance of NFTs and Digital Identity
One of the most striking things about NFTs is that they have always stood firm in market fluctuations, which is reflected in their role in building digital identity and community membership. Earlier this year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin changed his avatar to a Milady NFT from Remilia Corporation, causing a strong market reaction, which fully proves this point.
Finzer observed: "Owning a digital asset, making a purchase, and then setting it as a social media avatar, in itself shows that you are a member of this community, which reflects a shift in mindset."
He compared the CryptoPunks community to this phenomenon: "When you buy a CryptoPunk, you are immediately welcomed into this truly vibrant community... it really makes you immediately recognize what this person represents."
We have also witnessed the evolution of community members in projects like Pudgy Penguins, which originally launched in 2021 as just a chubby, mischievous flightless bird, and has now evolved into a mature consumer brand.
Today, Pudgy Penguins can be found on toy store shelves and in popular videos on TikTok, and there is even a Solana-based PENGU ecosystem token whose trading volume has jumped into the top ten this year. As founder Luca Netz put it, "Intellectual property is the 'Trojan horse' for cryptocurrency adoption." And Pudgy's journey from a niche collectible to mainstream merchandise confirms this argument.
Meanwhile, anime-focused Azuki is also leaning into storytelling and fan collaboration, with founder Alex 'Zagabond' Xu describing Azuki's mission as "respecting anime cultural heritage while pioneering new creator funding models." Like many other projects, it now has its own ecosystem token, with over half of the ANIME tokens allocated to its NFT holders, which "highlights how digital communities can co-own IP development, from storylines to funding anime production."
NFT Technology Cycle
Finzer believes that the current state of NFTs is part of the natural cycle that new technologies typically go through, "Any new technology goes through a very exciting period where people are interested in its use cases, and then there's a period of frenzy, and that's what we saw in 2021," he said.
But usually after that, people spend more time building infrastructure, use cases, and innovation, and I think that's what we've seen in the last few years.
This view is consistent with what we have seen in other technological revolutions, from the Internet itself to mobile apps, where the initial hype is gradually replaced by a more sustained period of development and real value emerges.
While early focus was primarily on digital art and collectibles, Finzer sees NFTs as part of a broader layer of digital ownership that will become critical as our lives become increasingly online, "OpenSea has truly evolved from a pure NFT marketplace into a platform where you can discover, own, and trade any on-chain asset." Finzer noted, emphasizing that the platform has moved beyond its initial narrow focus.
In fact, NFTs have been proving to us that they are more than just "NFTs": from Azuki's community-driven foray into the anime industry to Pudgy Penguins' collaboration with a toy line, new projects are strongly leaning towards the "online identity" aspect, such as 0xExceed's KazeCreations moving from PFPs to banners and high-end fashion entities, which proves the power of NFTs as programmable IP online, not just digital JPEGs.
One particularly interesting emerging trend that Finzer has noticed is the connection between physical items and NFTs, "There are a lot of companies now that are building physical products represented as NFTs," he explained.
He highlighted Courtyard, which is "generating significant revenue and huge trading volume" by allowing people to trade rare Pokemon cards represented as NFTs and get the actual physical items on demand.
"They're less flashy because they're not necessarily typical NFT projects, but they're a great example of the flexibility and utility of NFTs." Finzer said: "They don't have to be purely digital collectibles or artwork, they can represent all sorts of things."
NFTs, AI, and Gaming
Finzer said the rise of generative AI has created new opportunities for NFTs, "It's made content creation incredibly easy," he explained. "If you're a developer who wants to develop a game, or you're an artist who wants to create artwork, it's now easy."
As these AI applications evolve, Finzer believes many developers will want to "own unique digital ownership in some way," and this is where NFTs can play a key role.
Interestingly, Finzer does not see artificial intelligence as a threat to the value of NFTs, but rather as enhancing the importance of provable digital ownership, "For digital art, because it contains elements of human culture, I think there is a greater need for a provable digital ownership layer," he said.
Finzer also pointed out that many exciting Web3 games are under development, including the blockchain-based trading card game Parallel, and many of these projects are integrating artificial intelligence and continuing to be developed and released despite market fluctuations.
Another notable example of NFTs powering gaming experiences is Claynosaurz, whose gaming experience is being launched in partnership with Gameloft, a mainstream game publishing studio known for hit games such as (Modern Combat), (The Amazing Spider-Man), (Gods of Rome), and (Despicable Me: Minion Rush).
In addition, the project was recognized by the 2025 Collision Awards, a prestigious event that recognizes outstanding animated works in all fields, including film, television, and games. The Collision Awards were established in 2024 by industry leaders and the organizers of the long-running Telly Awards, bringing together judges from major studios such as Disney, Pixar, and Nickelodeon to evaluate submissions from around the world.
Claynosaurz's 3D dinosaur characters have won awards in multiple categories, demonstrating how NFT projects can produce animation quality comparable to traditional entertainment giants. These are no longer the pixelated images that NFTs are often associated with.
The Future of NFT Digital Ownership
Despite the ups and downs of the NFT market, Finzer remains convinced that digital ownership will become a fundamental part of our increasingly online lives.
"NFTs will play a key role in the future society." Finzer insists: "I think as more people move to the digital world, there needs to be a digital ownership layer."
As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the gaming ecosystem becomes increasingly complex, and more and more of our identities become tied to digital assets, NFTs may truly realize the vision advocated by Finzer and other early adopters: not as speculative assets, but as an essential infrastructure for the digital future.
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