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2025 wasn’t a euphoric NFT year, but it was an important year for the NFT space nonetheless. It had cultural flashpoints, infra breakthroughs, regulatory resets, and a few genuine manias. That said, let's recap the 10 happenings that mattered most here in my opinion!
Crypto-friendly leadership took over at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this year, followed by a wave of investigation closures into onchain projects, including NFT teams like OpenSea, Yuga Labs, and CyberKongz. For now, then, it's clear NFTs aren’t inherently securities in America, despite what Gary Gensler’s SEC implied with its 2023 enforcements against Impact Theory and Stoner Cats.
NFT collectibles had a relatively quiet year overall, but the post-drop trading frenzy around the Hyperliquid ecosystem's Hypurr collection was the closest 2025 came to reliving 2021's bull run energy. The project sparked ~$45 million in first-day volume and produced multiple six-figure sales for rares, including one north of $470,000. No other NFT launch has managed to approach this sort of demand this cycle.
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