This year has been a tumultuous one for NFTs, with speculations of the NFT bubble bursting amid the crypto winter. Q3 2022 saw just $3.4 billion in sales compared to $8.4 billion in Q2. This month, the numbers plummeted further. Over the year, investor interest and media coverage also fell. However, December Google trends analysis shows a renewed interest in NFTs, suggesting they may just become popular again the coming here.
Are interests in NFTs rising again?
According to Google trends data, searches for the term “NFT” scored 100 in January, before dropping sharply over the months. It hit an all-time low score of 10 in the week of December 4 to 10. Correspondingly, Cryptoslam data shows that December NFT sales fell about 80% compared to last December. While the sales hit $4.9 billion in January 2022, it has only reached around $565 million so far in December.
However, Google trends analysis shows that there was a recent spike in searches for “NFT”. To explain, in the week of December 11 to 17, the score rose to 20. However, it dropped again the following to 14. The renewed interest might be on account of the holiday season. Some investors may even have been looking at NFT Christmas gifts.
So, NFTs are not dead?
Well, to begin with, NFTs did not exactly “die”. Although the NFT bubble may have burst, it has only helped the industry to focus on more valuable projects. In other words, mere speculation or hype alone is no longer sufficient to attract investors. NFT collections need to do much more—they need to offer unique utility and real-world activations and experiences. In this regard, undoubtedly, 2023 will be a crucial year for the sector.
Source NFT Evening