InceptionLRT Shuts Down Six Months After $3.5M Seed Funding, Urges Users to Withdraw Funds
The NFT market just hit its lowest point in over a year and a half, and things aren’t looking great. According to a recent DappRadar report, sales volume dropped to $823 million in Q2 2025 — way down from $4 billion during the same period in 2024. That’s a 19% fall from the first quarter this year, marking the fifth straight decline.
If you’ve been holding onto digital collectibles, this probably isn’t the news you wanted. Even big-name projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club are feeling the squeeze, along with smaller ones still trying to prove they’re worth anything at all.
A few things are at play here. Retail traders, who once jumped in hoping for quick profits, seem to have lost interest. Then there’s Ethereum’s stubbornly high gas fees, the fading media buzz, and — let’s be honest — growing skepticism about whether NFTs hold any real value long-term.
It’s not just sales that are down. Fewer people are even talking about NFTs these days. Remember when every celebrity and their dog was shilling a collection? Now, most of those projects have either vanished or been called out as scams.
Back in 2021 and 2022, NFTs were everywhere. Artists became millionaires overnight, and pixelated avatars sold for absurd sums — some over half a million dollars. The Beeple auction at Christie’s, which pulled in $69 million, was practically a cultural moment.
But the frenzy didn’t last. By mid-2022, prices started collapsing, wiping out billions in value. What was once a gold rush turned into a slow bleed. Even major marketplaces like OpenSea are struggling, while competitors dangle rewards to keep users from leaving.
One of the few big names still pushing NFTs? Donald Trump. Since jumping back into politics, he’s dropped four collections — each packed with over-the-top images of himself as a superhero, hugging a Bitcoin logo, or flashing gold bars.
His earlier releases sold out fast, and he even hosted an NFT holders’ dinner in 2023. But despite the hype, his efforts haven’t moved the needle. The Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index, which tracks top projects, is down 52% since early 2024.
Meanwhile, other parts of crypto — like Bitcoin and Ethereum — have bounced back, thanks to institutional interest and ETF optimism. NFTs, though? They’re still stuck in the cold.
At this point, it’s hard to say if they’ll ever recover. Maybe they’ll find a new purpose beyond speculation. Or maybe this is just how the story ends.
