[Chunja Column] The End of the NFT Era

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

It said that after cryptocurrency values plunged, NFT prices turned weak, and that even by late 2024 NFT prices had fallen further.
It said that NFTs issued worldwide last year reached 1.3 billion, weakening scarcity, and that the exchange “Nifty Gateway” announced it would shut down its service.
It noted that the “CryptoSlam 500 NFT Index” fell 98.97% from its 2022 peak, while a rare basketball card traded for $12.93 million.

In 2022, BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) non-fungible token (NFT) No. 8817 traded for $34 million (about 48.3 billion won). That was 180,000 times its initial sale price a year earlier (about $190). Yuga Labs, the blockchain company founded by artists, issued a total of 10,000 BAYC NFTs, each featuring different ape expressions, outfits, and colors.

An NFT refers to assigning a unique identifier to a digital asset using blockchain technology. Like a real-estate registry that records the owner of a property, blockchain records the owner of a digital asset. Wealthy buyers readily opened their wallets for the emergence of a new kind of digital collectible. In a digital world where infinite duplication is possible, the appeal of NFTs was the ability to own a one-and-only asset. Companies used NFTs for VIP marketing—running chat rooms accessible only to holders of specific NFTs, or granting them priority purchase rights for new products. In Korea, Shinsegae Department Store’s “Puvilla” and Lotte Home Shopping’s “Bellygom” gained popularity. Companies offered NFT-holding VIP customers differentiated perks such as invitations to special exhibitions, discounts, and parking passes.

The NFT frenzy did not last long. As cryptocurrency values plunged in late 2022, NFT prices also turned weak. Cryptocurrencies managed a rebound in late 2024, but NFT prices fell even further. With anyone able to mint NFTs easily, scarcity weakened. Last year alone, as many as 1.3 billion NFTs were issued worldwide.

News has emerged that “Nifty Gateway,” an exchange that handled NFT artworks, will end its service on February 23. Trading has thinned to the point that it has become difficult to sustain the business. The “CryptoSlam 500 NFT Index,” calculated based on the prices of 500 NFT projects, has fallen 98.97% from its 2022 peak. By contrast, a rare basketball card featuring both basketball legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant traded for $12.93 million (about 19.0 billion won) last year. At least in the collectibles market, it seems difficult for digital to overtake analog.

Song Hyung-seok, Editorial Writer click@hankyung.com