NFT Marketplace Cap Surges – Are NFTs Still a Thing in 2025?

Industry News

July 23, 2025

The broader crypto market development and the rising AI trends have fairly taken over the NFT hype. Many said NFTs are dead already. However, recent blockchain insights say otherwise!

The NFT market capitalisation jumped by 20% in July 2025, reigniting debates on the relevance of non-fungible tokens. Much of this sudden revival was attributed to CryptoPunks collections, which experienced spiking trading volumes and wallet activity.

The question arises: are NFTs still a thing, or is it just another speculative wave that will dip after a while? Let’s dive into the latest trends and market forces shaping the current crypto landscape.

NFTs: Between the Rise and Fall

The explosive growth of NFTs in 2021 led many to believe they were the future of digital ownership, which was believable to some extent. However, the plummeting volumes, failing projects, and scams taking over contaminated the space and caused many to lose trust in NFTs.

Supporters claimed these challenges were necessary market corrections, while critics labelled NFTs as a passing fad.

This reduced highlight on NFTs might have benefited them, since this space was gaining momentum in the background. For example, October 2024 witnessed significant NFT movements, with market capitalisation surging to $40 billion and volumes on Ethereum-based NFTs exceeding 25k ETH, according to NFTScan.

July 2025 NFT Resurgence

This month, this sector has undergone a sudden revival. The overall market capitalisation surged by 20%, recording a remarkable uptick after over a year. Leading the charge were ETH-based collections, especially CryptoPunks, which alone boosted volume across major marketplaces.

Moreover, the number of active traders and NFT minting had risen significantly, indicating broader participation rather than isolated speculation.

This surge is attributed to multiple reasons, including the rising Ethereum prices, improved on-chain sentiment, and potential anticipation of broader decentralised tech rallies under the recent Genius Act.

There has also been a noticeable movement from crypto whales who re-entered the space and contributed with significant volumes. Rather than simply recycling past trends, the current wave is fuelled by a mix of nostalgia, AI-based tools, and a stabilised crypto environment.

Blockchain Insights

Most blockchains and NFT marketplaces recorded increasing activity. For example, OpenSea, a leading NFT platform, recorded massive trading volumes from $3.3 billion to over $7.5 billion in three days.

CryptoPunks, the largest NFT collection with over 10,000 digital art pieces, also garnered huge volumes that reached $15 million on 21 July, according to NFTScan. This came after a period of stagnation and low activity on CryptoPunk NFTs.

This records massive growth, as CryptoPunks’ trading volume has not reached $10 million since October 2024, and $2.5 million in the last three months.

When it comes to Ethereum-based digital art, volumes surged significantly with over $215 million in sales recorded so far this month, a 10% increase from June.

The 24-hour statistics show $35 million in sales, as of writing, with a whopping 356% increase from the previous day, according to Cryptoslam.

Leading Platforms, Marketplaces, and Chains

Ethereum continues to dominate in value terms, but Layer-2 chains like Arbitrum and BASE have attracted significant traffic due to their scalable infrastructure and accessible minting capabilities. The rise of dynamic NFTs, on-chain identification, and tokenised real-world assets has made the space much more flexible, resilient and lucrative.

Cryptoslam ranks blockchains based on sold NFTs in the last 24 hours as follows:

Ethereum: $35 million in sales and 6,176 active users.
Bitcoin: $2.5 million in sales and 2,335 active users.
Solana: $2.1 million in sales and 3,741 active users.

Layer-2 chains have also put solid numbers as follows:

Polygon: $1.2 million in sales and 1,877 active users.
Immutable: $990,596 in sales and 730 active users.
Arbitrum: $231,485 in sales and 376 active users.

Public Sentiment and Reaction

Crypto speculators reacted positively to this trend, reflecting on the memories of the NFT frenzy a few years ago. This bullish sentiment, accompanied by cryptocurrency price rallies, has shifted the Fear and Greed Index to 67, a greed level in the overall crypto market, according to CoinMarketCap.

Many even hinted that “NFTs are back,” especially at Web3 and NFT marketplaces, where user activity and trading volumes have skyrocketed.

Final Remarks

NFTs may not lead the headlines as artificial intelligence and leading cryptocurrency prices, but recent blockchain activity revealed that trading activity, volumes, and market capitalisation of these digital art pieces are rising.

With cutting-edge blockchain innovations and advanced security technology, many believe that NFTs are still a thing, especially with the positive developments from crypto regulators, institutional adoption rates, and prices.