20/06/2025 Will NFTs Make a Grand Return This Cycle?

In the crypto bull market of 2021, it was all about NFTs. Yes, Bitcoin smashed past its all-time highs and various alts posted insane performances as well, but the mainstream narrative surrounded NFTs. Celebrities were posting about them, starting their own NFT lines ā€“ with artists like Grimes making $5.8 million in just 20 minutes ā€“ and people were predicting that theyā€™d change the world.

Then, surprisingly, they simply faded during the bear market and havenā€™t bounced back this cycle. Could this mean that itā€™s still early in the bull market? Will NFTs make a grand return after Bitcoin mania reaches all-time highs again?

Raoul Pal Bullish On NFTs

Raoul Pal is one of the most influential figures in the crypto space, having been an early predictor of $100,000 BTC as far back as 2013. The investor has made some calls that have turned out to be true in recent times, and now expects the famous ā€œbanana zoneā€ phase of the Bitcoin macro cycle to be taking off. Indeed, he thinks this could run until the end of 2025, when the markets will take a downturn again.

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In a recent X post, Pal advised his followers to own as much crypto as possible first. After that, he says people should focus on owning as many NFTs as possible, as he believes that ā€œart is upstream of wealthā€. The crypto influencer was an early adopter of CryptoPunks, which are now selling for extraordinary sums of money. Indeed, the cheapest one available is currently 46.60 ETH, with plenty more expensive ones than that.

Despite Palā€™s bullishness on NFTs, the rest of the crypto community has been quiet on them during this cycle. Indeed, this time, the main attraction has been memecoins. The concept of the memecoin has existed since Dogecoinā€™s inception in 2013, but now there are millions to choose from with more cropping up every day.

NFTs Serve Greater Purpose Than Memecoins

Despite having gone quiet for a few years, thereā€™s a chance that NFTs could make a comeback. Thatā€™s because they serve a purpose, and could have a greater function in the online world in the future. Some musicians,including Snoop Dogg,have already found selling their material as NFTsto be a lucrativeway of givingfans their own individual products.

Indeed, along with album releases as NFTs, bands likeLords of Acidhave previously released their own entire collections. These give fans a chance to gather some collectibles related to their favorite artists, providing a new way to engage with them.

NFTs could in fact serve a greater purpose across many disparate areas of the entertainment market. For instance,Netflix already proposedthe idea of NFTs in video streaming with a unique idea for future TV ratings in Love, Death+ Robots. This is in keeping for Netflix, who has been a major forerunner of streaming tech for some time, having made recent strides offering games and other interactive media alongside their films and shows.

The casino industry is always quick to adapt to new tech as well, with sites likeonline casino Betwaymaking great use of live streaming in recent years with titles like Sticky Bandits Roulette and Football Roulette, among many others. It would not be surprising, therefore, if in the futurepeople could be allowed to own NFTs in these virtual casinos. The NFTs that typically gain the most traction are those based on truly unique collectibles, and in games of random chance, unpredictability is part and parcel of the experience, making the tech potentially apt for the market.

Furthermore, there is much room for innovation within the VR industry for NFTs. There has long been talk of expanding VR metaverses in the near-future, where people could socialize and work.Pew Research Centerexpects these environments to become highly immersive by 2040, at which point VR may almost be indistinguishable from real life. In this scenario, NFTs could allow people to buy products and property within the virtual worlds with a level of security more analogous to physically owning them.

NFTs Could Make a Return During Mania Phase

Bitcoin has been steadily rising for the last couple of years, and it recently hit another all-time high. However, thereā€™s still no NFT hype like there was around the peak of the last cycle. It could be coming soon, though, as this phase usually sees more retail investors flooding in and looking to jump on the latest trends. During this mania phase, if celebrity influencers start promoting NFTs again, they could boom like last time.

NFTs are far from over, but they have been quiet in recent times. They could potentially make a comeback in this crypto cycle but, if they donā€™t, they should be able to bounce again in the future. This is because their potential use cases are manifold, and could broaden horizons for engagement for a lot of different industries.

Chief editor of Side-Line ā€“ which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify whatā€™s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, Iā€™m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraineā€™s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

Arts

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Interesting NFTs
The Moth Catcher
In this psychologically bed-headed portrait, a creature sets in a trance; his eyes devolved and vestigal, his third eye open but hardened and in a form resembling a Sharingan. The imagery therefore expresses an awareness existing in corporeal introspection. The creatureā€™s mind sprouts, on the left side, an emerging face, grinning. To the right side of the head, red tentacles and fingers intertwineā€“a collaboration of invertebrate and vertebrate consciousness cooperatively handling paint brushes of the sort used to build an oil painting. The neck and throat bristle with random thorns, as from a rose or the upper portions of a beak sprouting from its flesh. The neck itself disassociates into layers of membranous material, terminating upon an abstracted base of convoluted forms composing its body. The nose is virtually non existent, more a sinus reiterative of the shape of the third eye. Set against the exposed teeth peering out of thick, meaty cheeks, a skeleton-like impression results. That impression sets behind a visceral set of lips and tongue, which is the creatureā€™s prime seat of awareness. Sensual, organic, the tongue organ hangs, meaty, and with consciousness of a sea cucumber. It illuminates at the tip, drawing the attraction of a nearby mothā€“with mystery of purpose.
POPZ PUNKS #7
POPZ PUNKS 7/110
Noodle Rock
soft body spline & hair simulations in cinema 4d
Domestic - 2017
ā€œDomestic is the manifestation of the cultural patriarchy in my home. The wooden "woman's" tragedy of false desire. It was done in a moment of breakup. The hollow 3d body & its lost eyes, invites you to fill up. Trying to reach out, encumbered and wrapped in its own fragility, the new mother rises."
Who Is The Creator 2
The idea for this piece was borne out of a tweet of mine that caused a bit of a stir. Iā€™d posted a link to a blog article Iā€™d written a number of months previous titled ā€˜Who is the Creatorā€™ discussing various types of creative collaborations and why I hire people to work on my animations. It generated a lot of debate around creation and attribution with the community split on whether itā€™s right or wrong for an artist to hire other professionals to help them realize their art projects. I decided to push the boundaries even further and see how the cryptoart community responded. What if I quite literally had nothing to do with the physical or digital elements of the work other than coming up with the concept and coordinating it? I decided there was one artist in the space who could add huge value to this idea on levels that none other could and so I gathered my courage and contacted the great JosĆ© Delbo to ask him if heā€™d be interested in a very unique collaboration. I explained to him that to make this piece ā€˜workā€™ he couldn't have any say in what I produced and moreover, he wouldnā€™t even be allowed to see the animation until it was dropped on MakersPlace. To my surprise, Mr Delbo agreed to my proposal. The animation tells the story of the creative process, which includes my roles as writer, director, and producer working with a team and making edits and changes ā€˜in real timeā€™. The dialogue between myself and my ā€˜hired gunsā€™ plays out in front of the viewer. The music written for the piece adds to the nostalgia of the comic book superhero theme but other elements such as the snapping and kicking of the pencil and the signing of my signature at the bottom incorporates further layers and challenges the viewer to ask important questions, such as, is the ā€˜Artā€™ the final animation (the creation) or is the ā€˜Artā€™ the concept/credit for the creation itself?