NFTs

The Bull Case for NFTs in 2026

By Aidan Carney Skytt Updated August 5, 2026

Summary

The older this industry becomes, the more interesting the grails from the past look.
Crypto will have its own collectibles.
As we spend more of our lives in internet native environments, internet native collectibles become more meaningful.

Introduction

NFTs are dead. Like, super dead. The cow when you see steaks on the grill dead. Trading volume continues to plummet. Floors are a fraction of their all time highs. On a CT that's already quiet, NFTs don't even get a murmur on the timeline.

What if I told you there's still a bull case? Not for the entire market, but for a handful of collections that could outperform over the next decade.

How did we get here?

Before we break down the bull case, let's look at what created today's NFT market.

NFTs had their golden run in 2021. Stimulus money, people stuck inside and a generation that was chronically online created the perfect environment for a speculative asset class to thrive. Bored Apes sold for millions and the ultimate status symbol was owning a Punk.

Every crypto bull market attracts extraction. Everyone and their mother launched an NFT collection. It got to the point where if you had unique art onchain, the floor was expected to be at least one ETH. Grifters took advantage and cashed out on retail. Then FTX collapsed, liquidity disappeared and the NFT bull market ended almost overnight.

Since then, NFTs have had brief revivals. Floors rally whenever traders expect an exchange or ecosystem airdrop. Those rallies never lasted because they were driven by speculation rather than demand. Pudgy Penguins cooled once the Abstract airdrop was no longer around the corner. The broader market lost another catalyst when OpenSea chose not to launch a token.

Today the market looks bleak. Nobody talks about NFTs. They aren't a flex anymore. Airdrops have dried up. Floors are low.

So why would this ever change?

The bull case

I don't think we see another 2021-style NFT mania unless something dramatic changes, like the metaverse becoming mainstream. This thesis doesn't rely on that.

NFTs have historically performed best near the end of crypto bull markets. After traders make money, many look for ways to signal status inside crypto. Anonymous wealth still wants to flex to anonymous friends. I think we'll see that behavior again.

The more compelling driver is time. As crypto matures, its history becomes more valuable. Every mature asset class develops collectibles. Baseball has rookie cards. The watch world has vintage Rolexes. Traditional art has the old masters.

Crypto will have its own. The earliest and most culturally important NFT collections become artifacts from the beginning of internet ownership. That doesn't mean every collection comes back. Most won't. I think the gains concentrate in true blue chips.

Punks could eventually have a $1 million floor because they become the definitive collectible from crypto's first era. Fidenzas appreciate for the same reason. Even Ether Rocks, despite looking ridiculous today, become valuable because of what they represent, not what they do.

As we spend more of our lives in internet native environments, internet native collectibles become more meaningful.