Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Rise and Fall of NFTs

He spent $69 million on an NFT. Five years on, he believes in digital art more than ever
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/17/style/singapore-nft-vignesh-sundaresan-beeple-everydays 

What the hell happened to NFTs?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/rise-and-fall-of-nfts/
The mad gold rush of the digital art world has come to an abrupt end – and people are losing money fast.

What were NFTs? An understandable internet fad, and the next one is just around the corner
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/27/nfts-non-fungible-tokens-pandemic-loneliness-craze 

NFT Bubbles by Andrea Barbon and Angelo Ranaldo
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.06051.pdf
Abstract
By investigating nonfungible tokens (NFTs), we provide the first systematic study of retail investor behavior through asset bubbles. Given that NFTs are recorded in public blockchains, we are able to track investor behavior over time, leading to the identification of numerous price run-ups and crashes. Our study reveals that agent-level variables, such as investor sophistication, heterogeneity, and wash trading, in addition to aggregate variables, such as volatility, price acceleration, and turnover, significantly predict bubble formation and price crashes. We find that sophisticated investors consistently outperform others and exhibit characteristics consistent with superior information and skills, supporting the narrative surrounding asset pricing bubbles.