NFT volume has surpassed 133 million USD. Can it replace DeFi as the focus?

As the heat of Decentralized Finance ( DeFi ) gradually cools down, industry insiders are beginning to look for new investment hotspots. Against this backdrop, Non-Fungible Tokens ( NFT ) are gradually gaining attention as potential "successors."

According to data platform statistics, as of October 28, the total trading volume of the NFT market has reached 133 million USD, with over 4.96 million NFTs sold, and the average price is 26.9 USD. These three data points have shown a clear upward trend recently, indicating that the activity level of the NFT market is on the rise.

NFT is a unique cryptocurrency asset, with each token containing a one-of-a-kind identification information, indivisible and non-interchangeable. These features make NFTs particularly suitable for representing unique assets such as digital artworks, collectibles, etc. In contrast, there are fungible tokens like Bitcoin, which are interchangeable and can be divided into smaller units.

The explosion of the NFT market this year originated from a project named "Pineapple" (MEME) that unexpectedly became popular. This "joke" project, originally intended to satirize the rapidly emerging DeFi projects, generated over 1.2 million USD in trading volume within 24 hours. The price of the Pineapple Token skyrocketed to 1930.2 USD in a short period, and the related NFT cards were also highly sought after. This event sparked a wave of innovative fusion between DeFi and NFTs.

Subsequently, more NFT artworks and collectibles began to enter the trading market. One of the blockchain artworks was sold for over $130,000, setting the highest record in NFT auction history. Various IPs also started to venture into the NFT field, launching products such as digital collectible cards.

However, compared to DeFi, the NFT market size is still relatively small. A leading DEX has 300,000 active users, while the leading NFT platform has only 24,000 active users. The total size of the NFT market is only about 2% of the DeFi market. Therefore, whether NFTs can truly take over from DeFi remains questionable.

NFT is not a new phenomenon. As early as 2017, the "CryptoKitties" project made a splash as the first practical application of NFT, but the development in the following years was relatively slow. This year, the popularity of NFT can be attributed in part to speculative behavior driven by high return expectations, while its long-term development still faces challenges.

In the long term, the application prospects of NFTs are broad. In addition to fields such as gaming, collectibles, and art, NFTs also have potential uses in intellectual property, digital rights verification, identity authentication, and electronic tickets. However, to realize these possibilities, NFTs still need to continuously explore and improve in terms of technology and application scenarios.

Currently, the NFT market still carries a strong speculative color. Excessive hype may lead to a bubble, which is detrimental to the healthy development of the industry. NFTs need to find a balance between hype and rationality, gradually maturing through market validation and practice. Although the future of NFTs is full of possibilities, it will take time for them to truly become mainstream. What new stories will emerge in the blockchain industry in the future? Let's wait and see.