NFTs Stay Strong in 2025: $2.8B Sold in Q1 Despite Slowing Exchanges

No one bets on a campfire when the rain falls. Yet, NFTs keep crackling, even in the downpour. While trading volumes shrink quarter after quarter, sales hold strong: 2.82 billion dollars collected in the first half of 2025. Fewer dollars per transaction, but more hands reaching out. The market is no longer booming; it breathes differently, calmer, denser. And that might be the best news crypto has had in months.

Strong NFT Sales, Eroding Volumes

Some figures create an illusion, others speak the truth. This one, 2.82 billion, reminds us that the NFT market hasn’t said its last word. It’s a slight drop compared to 2.96 billion in the second half of 2024, but it’s not a free fall. Just a realignment. The kind of breathing after a wild run.

The first quarter started off flying with 1.59 billion dollars. January alone triggered 679 million. Then, as months passed, the adrenaline calmed down: 1.24 billion in Q2, and a low point in June at 388 million. No panic: it’s not the exhaustion of a runner, it’s a change of pace for NFTs.

CryptoSlam data shows an ecosystem still active, with between 4 and 6 million monthly transactions. And a constant: an average value per sale oscillating between 80 and 100 dollars. Translation? The market isn’t growing bigger, it’s getting broader. It moves out of the hands of gamblers into those of broader, more engaged communities.

Less Speculation, More Usage

Behind the sales figures, trading volumes tell another story. A drop of 45% in Q2 2025 according to DappRadar. 823 million dollars traded against 1.5 billion in the previous quarter. But beware: it’s not a dry-up, it’s engine braking. Speed drops, but direction remains good.

The killer detail? The total number of sales climbed 78% over the same period. Less money is traded, but many more NFTs. What this says: NFTs have become accessible. Less “flip”, more adoption. People don’t buy anymore to resell at a higher price, they buy to keep, to use, to belong.

Aubrey Terrazas, from Rarible, explains it bluntly: the market is becoming healthier. Less speculative, more useful. Community projects replace flashy collections. Blockchains diversify. Supply fragments. And crypto discovers that it can exist without chasing the next bubble.

Pop Culture as an Unexpected Driver

If proof was needed that NFTs are not dead, Snoop Dogg gave it in 30 minutes. That’s how long it took him to sell nearly a million NFTs on Telegram. Result: 12 million dollars, and a slap to those announcing the end of the model. Behind this operation, the TON blockchain, and a new logic: mobile, viral, community-driven.

More than ever, crypto is rooting itself in popular usage. No need for big volumes to make noise. Good storytelling, an agile platform, and a responsive target are enough to trigger a tidal wave. NFTs move away from the cliché of the useless JPEG and become powerful cultural marketing levers.

This evolution could well give the whole ecosystem a voice again. Not by fad, but by creating real value: loyalty, user experience, digital identity. The hype may be dead, but the strategy is just being born, even if mainstream media don’t talk about it.