Few tales are as evocative of Icarus as that of NFTs. Once the gleaming jewel of the cryptocurrency kingdom, these unique digital collectibles have now been exposed for what some might say they always were – a shimmering mirage in a vast desert of speculation.

At the start, NFTs were not merely collectibles; they were statements, declarations of modernity and progressiveness. They symbolised the ostentatious marriage of art and blockchain, a union that commanded staggering monthly trading volumes of $2.8 billion as recently as August 2021.

Fast forward to today, and the bubble, as all bubbles eventually do, has burst. The neon-lit billboards of NFT evangelists have been replaced by a gloomy cloud of skepticism, poignantly captured by the surge in queries like “Are NFTs Dead?”.

Thanks to dappGambl’s recent expose, we now have quantifiable proof of the NFT calamity.
An eye-watering 95% of all catalogued NFTs are now as worthless as the very pixels they’re made of.

It’s a digital graveyard where 69,795 digital dreams lie buried, a haunting testament to mass disillusionment. It’s not just that these digital artifacts have lost value; it’s the revelation that 79% of them never found a buyer to begin with.

For every breakout success story, there were four digital echoes that never found a home.

But how did we get here? Why did so many buy into the NFT dream?

The answer might be in the age-old allure of easy riches and the intoxicating thrill of speculative bubbles. Everyone wanted to own the next viral piece of digital art, to sell it for a fortune and then regale others with tales of their acumen.

The reality, as is often the case, was far more mundane and brutal. The market was flooded with mediocrity, with every second individual minting NFTs, hoping to strike digital gold.

Perhaps the real lesson here is not about the volatility of NFTs, but the fickleness of human nature and our pursuit of the next big thing.

While NFTs themselves might fade into obscurity, the tales of their meteoric rise and spectacular fall will remain a cautionary tale for future digital prospectors.

For now, as the digital dust settles, one thing is clear: in the volatile world of NFTs, only the narratives, not the tokens, have value right now. I’m betting on a future NFT comeback akin to the QR code.

Art by Serwah Attafuah