The real story with NFTs isn't that they vanished—it's that the hype machine broke.

Rewind to 2021. Everyone was talking about what NFTs *could* be:

Think digital art, profile pictures that actually meant something, blockchain-based domains replacing usernames. Tickets that proved you were there. In-game assets you truly owned. Virtual real estate with staying power. Academic credentials on-chain. Tools to crush counterfeiting. Identity layers for Web3.

That list? Still valid. Most of it's still being built.

But here's the thing—the market got drunk on speculation instead of adoption. People bought jpegs for six figures waiting for the moon. When the money dried up, everyone decided NFTs were dead. They weren't. The narrative just matured. What changed isn't the technology or the use cases. It's the conversation.

The winners now? Projects solving real problems, not chasing FOMO. Turns out utility beats hype every time.