NFTs are shifting from a speculative asset to essential digital infrastructure, foundational for domains like gaming and AI. In Q1 2025, a 24% decline in NFT trading volume contrasted with only a 10% drop in sales, indicating a market focus on utility rather than speculation. As autonomous AI agents better integrate with Web3 systems, NFTs become vital for identity verification and access control, embodying functionalities beyond mere assets. Projects such as ReinforcedAI and Peaq demonstrate this trend, using NFTs for validation and device identity, respectively. Furthermore, UX-driven social wallets are encouraging broader adoption of NFTs, allowing users to engage without complex key management, thereby enhancing user experience. This marks a significant transition of NFTs from visible collectibles to crucial infrastructure elements, supporting ownership, transactions, and access in decentralized environments. The expectation for a speculative NFT boom overlooks its evolution into core digital systems, where real progress in their application is currently happening.

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