Cryptocurrency
Are NFT markets in a death spiral or ready for a resurgence?

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) saw a massive surge in popularity in 2021, accompanied by sky-high prices, but the market has since come crashing back to earth, and it’s unclear whether there will be a resurgence.
NFTs are unique digital tokens recorded on a blockchain to certify ownership and authenticity. They can’t be copied or substituted but can be transferred and sold by their owner.
According to analytics platform NFTGo, the NFT market cap valued in Ether (ETH) is down 40.59% over the past year at the time of writing, with trading volume down 40.81%.
The market cap in U.S. dollars is down 41.16%, and its volume has dropped 66.77%. At the same time, market sentiment is ranked 13 out of 100, with an overall rating of “cold.”

Arno Bauer, senior solution architect at BNB Chain, told Cointelegraph that from a utility perspective, NFT projects are increasingly adding value and that this growth in functionality is where the future of NFTs likely lies.
Bauer said the NFT market is showing “promising signs of innovation and creativity,” which holds great potential for the growth and evolution of the tech.
Related: Crypto lawyer about SEC: ‘Problematic to imply all NFTs are securities’
“Market sentiment, cultural shifts towards digital ownership, and the potential for NFTs to be integrated into various aspects of our lives also contribute to a positive outlook for the future of NFTs,” he said.
“While current market conditions might seem subdued, the ongoing innovation and potential for integration with both digital and physical worlds suggest that NFTs have not had their day and that their continued relevance and growth are highly probable,” Bauer added.
NFTs in the long term
As for long-term use cases, Bauer said NFTs will “likely evolve” over time and become increasingly linked to real-world assets, such as property ownership or unique physical goods.
Currently, NFTs have been most successful in the art world, with some selling for tens of millions of dollars.

Digital artist Pak sold an NFT project titled “The Merge” for $91.8 million on Nifty Gateway in 2021, while Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for $69.3 million via Christie’s auction house the same year.
Blockchain games also use NFTs to represent in-game items such as weapons and armor, and there is speculation the tech will make the jump to mainstream games. Various types of music assets are also being sold as one-of-a-kind NFTs.
Bauer thinks that as more robust technology provides enhanced use cases and ownership security, NFTs will likely become more attractive to mainstream markets.
He speculated that NFTs could link to financial instruments, representing shares in companies or investment funds, and social achievements, where they could symbolize badges of accomplishment in various fields.

“Beyond art, the ability to tokenize unique assets and provide verifiable ownership will create numerous applications across various domains,” Bauer said.
“Collaborations with traditional industries, technological advancements, clear regulatory frameworks and educational efforts can significantly boost NFT utility and adoption.”
“Addressing sustainability concerns could make them more appealing to a broader audience,” he added.
NFTs have the potential to make a comeback
Jason Bailey, co-founder and CEO of NFT tool and self-custody solution ClubNFT, told Cointelegraph he thinks “NFTs will come back and go mainstream” because crypto and NFTs rebound cyclically, just like previous tech crashes.
According to data gathering platform Statista, the NFT market is projected to continue growing in revenue, users and market capitalization.
As of 2023, there are 13.95 million NFT users, but that’s expected to hit 19.31 million users by 2027.

However, Bailey believes NFTs currently have some issues, most of which were amplified by rampant market speculation, that need to be solved before NFTs can go mainstream.
He said NFTs and the ecosystem around them are so complex that almost everyone is still vulnerable to many risks they may not even know about.
“Many of us have been trying to educate and onboard people into the space thoughtfully so they can be safe, but the truth is that NFTs won’t go mainstream until the complexity is replaced with a safe-by-default easy path,” Bailey said.
“For example, the vast majority of people don’t realize that an NFT is almost always at risk in a sense, except for fully on-chain NFTs, which are a truly tiny fraction.”
“The steps needed to protect the art from disappearing, and prevent the NFT from breaking, are complicated, time-consuming and error-prone,” he added.
Related: AI-based tools bring security and transparency to the NFT market
Bailey believes that in the long term, NFTs or similar tech could prove invaluable in validating digital documents such as marriage certificates, diplomas and licenses.
Overall, he thinks NFTs solve too many of the current problems associated with digital ownership — including scarcity, authentication, provenance and provable ownership — to be ignored.
“We need to build infrastructure now, during the bear market, for smoother onboarding and to protect NFT adopters from malicious actors in the next NFT bull market,” he said.
“Once these issues are solved, NFTs will absolutely go mainstream because the train of digital ownership left the station decades ago, and there is no stopping it.”
Meaningful projects could be a game changer for NFTs
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Andy Ku, founder and CEO of digital content Web3 ecosystem Altava Group, said he thinks the previous highs in the NFT market were based on a hype cycle, so it’ll be hard for an individual NFT to reach such lofty heights again.
asked google bard to write me some tweets about NFT market right now…
mf really went for the throat on these… pic.twitter.com/aLjUbwH3gT
— beeple (@beeple) August 22, 2023
According to CoinGecko, many of the top NFT collections have seen significant drops in value over the past year.
At the time of writing, Bored Ape Yacht Club has fallen by 67.1%, CryptoPunks by 33.2%, Mutant Ape Yacht Club by 59.2% and Azuki by 49.3%.
Ku believes that if we can see more meaningful NFT projects on the market offering tangible benefits to more people, then it’s possible to have the combined volume bring the overall market value up.
Related: What’s next for NFTs and Web3 in the age of the creator economy?
“NFTs should offer value and utility beyond just a digital art or PFP. The two areas I particularly believe in are asset-backed NFTs and a membership NFT,” he said.
“NFT’s core value of being an immutable representation of something is a great fit for assets and membership.”
NFTs for subscription, membership-based models and loyalty programs are starting to gain traction, with examples in hospitality venues and gyms already on the market.
“In terms of asset-backed NFTs, master artworks, real estate and precious metals like gold are all good examples of assets in which people believe,” Ku said.
“NFTs would make a great proof-of-ownership for these assets as well as being extremely portable,” he added.
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin Price Analysis: What’s Next for BTC After Breaking Above $104K?

Bitcoin kicked off the second week of May with a powerful continuation move, breaking through key resistance levels and climbing to fresh local highs. While the rally has been rapid, and the current technical signals suggest there’s still gas left in the tank, caution is still warranted.
The Daily Chart
On the daily timeframe, BTC has pushed decisively above the $100K resistance and is now hovering around the $104K mark. This breakout marks a clear escape from the month-long compression between the rising trendline and the 100 and 200-day moving averages.
The price has reclaimed both the moving averages around the $90K price level, and the RSI is holding above 70, indicating strong momentum. However, it also points to slightly overbought conditions. If the buyers maintain pressure and avoid sharp rejections, a run toward a new all-time high is likely.
The 4-Hour Chart
Zooming into the 4H chart, the breakout becomes even clearer. BTC exited an ascending channel pattern to the upside, rallying through the previous key supply zone around $98K with almost no resistance. Since then, the asset has been grinding higher in an orderly fashion, supported by the RSI cooling off.
The latest price action shows signs of slowing momentum, but there’s no reversal confirmation yet. A healthy pullback into the $100K–$98K range would be a logical area to look for continuation setups if the buyers remain in control. However, if that level fails, support at $94K could catch the next wave of bids.
Onchain Analysis
Miner Reserve
On-chain data reveals a persistent downtrend in the Bitcoin Miner Reserve, which has now dropped to around 1.8M BTC, the lowest in recent years. This suggests that miners are not accumulating, but rather continuing a long-term distribution pattern. Instead of increasing their holdings during this rally, they appear to be gradually offloading BTC, possibly to capitalize on higher prices or manage operational costs post-halving.
While this doesn’t necessarily signal aggressive selling, it does indicate that miners are not contributing to long-term supply tightening at the moment. Their lack of accumulation, in contrast to strong spot buying, reinforces the idea that current demand is being driven by other market participants, such as institutions and retail investors.
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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
Cryptocurrency
AB Foundation and AB Blockchain Jointly Champion Tech-driven Global Philanthropy: Building Trust through Technology

[PRESS RELEASE – Dublin, Ireland, May 11th, 2025]
The AB Foundation and AB Blockchain successfully hosted the inaugural “Tech-driven Global Philanthropy Closed-door Forum” today in Dublin.
The forum brought together distinguished global leaders, including His Excellency Bertie Ahern, former Prime Minister of Ireland and former President of the European Council; His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and former Chairperson of the African Union; Malcolm Byrne, Member of the Irish Parliament and Chairperson of the Artificial Intelligence Committee, alongside other prominent states persons and scholars. The attendees convened to discuss the transformative potential of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence in global philanthropy.
The forum was chaired by Bertie Ahern, Chairman of AB Foundation, former Prime Minister of Ireland, and former President of the European Council, who delivered the keynote speech titled “Technology and Trust: Building a New Global Philanthropic Order.”
Subsequently, Anthony Tsang, spokesperson for AB Blockchain, presented key developments on AB Blockchain’s high-performance mainnet, innovative cross-chain system AB Connect, and the groundbreaking zero-Gas stablecoin protocol Universal Transfer. He emphasized AB Blockchain’s mission to provide fully compliant infrastructure platforms for global philanthropy.
The AB Foundation will actively forward the key proposals from this forum to relevant international organizations and partners, continuing to promote a new global paradigm of “Technology for Good.”
About AB Foundation
The AB Foundation is an independent international non-governmental organization registered in Ireland with recognized legal status within the European Union. Supported by technology and funding from AB DAO, the Foundation leverages advanced technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence to create transparent, trustworthy, and traceable philanthropic infrastructures, thus promoting sustainable development in education, healthcare, environment, and humanitarian aid.
For more information, users can visit the official website: www.ab.org
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Cryptocurrency
Why ETH’s Undervaluation May Not Signal a Buying Opportunity: CQ Report

Ethereum (ETH) plunged into territory not seen since 2019 before it posted a substantial recovery in the past few days. However, it’s still trading at a steep discount to Bitcoin (BTC).
According to the latest weekly report from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, the ETH/BTC MVRV ratio, which measures market value relative to realized value, has entered “extremely undervalued” territory, a level that in past cycles set the stage for major ETH rebounds.
A Discount Amid Growing Headwinds
CryptoQuant’s analysis noted that Ethereum’s deep discounts against BTC have historically signaled prime buying opportunities.
However, it pointed out that the current environment is markedly different, with a series of fundamental headwinds responsible for the undervaluation. These include the unraveling of Ethereum’s once-promising deflationary supply narrative, with the asset’s total supply hitting an all-time high of 120.7 million.
The analytics platform attributed the reversal to March 2024’s Dencun upgrade, which drastically reduced transaction fees and collapsed the ETH burn rate. With fewer tokens being burned, inflationary pressure found its way back into the ETH market.
Further compounding the issue is that on-chain activity has been stagnant for a while. Since 2021, key metrics such as transaction counts and active addresses have dropped, mostly because Layer 2 (L2) networks diverted usage away from the Ethereum mainnet. Even though they have improved scalability, L2s have also diluted demand for base-layer block space, undermining ETH’s utility narrative in the process.
CryptoQuant also noted that institutional interest in the asset has been waning. The amount of staked ETH has reportedly dipped from its November 2024 peak of 35 million to about 34.4 million. ETF holdings have also shed as much as 400,000 ETH since February this year, reflecting weakening investor confidence.
“Bitcoin is benefiting from robust institutional demand, capped supply, and ETF-driven inflows,” read the report, contrasting the fortunes of the two cryptocurrencies.
Undervalued but Not Without Risk
Despite the obstacles, ETH staged a sharp rebound towards the end of the week. It shot up to roughly $2,400 on Friday.
Additionally, over the past week, the altcoin soared just above 30%, crushing Bitcoin’s 7.5% climb and vastly outpacing the global crypto market’s 8% gain. The rally coincided with the successful activation of the long-awaited Pectra upgrade on May 7, which introduced account abstraction and improved staking mechanics via 11 bundled EIPs. However, its impact may be muted.
Past experiences show that Ethereum’s discount to Bitcoin is often a buying signal. Still, CryptoQuant’s analysis suggests that the returning inflation, weakening demand, and stagnant activity may mean that this could be the first cycle in which ETH’s undervaluation isn’t a springboard but a trap.
“While ETH appears undervalued on a historical basis, its recovery path may be more complex and slower than in prior cycles,” CQ concluded.
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