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Key Takeaways
- NFT sales tracked by CryptoSlam fell 52.1% in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025.
- August’s reported unique buyer count was down 54.6% year over year, despite a monthly rebound in sales value.
- Trading-card platforms remain active, while the country table provides a historical comparison rather than a ranking of ownership in 2026.
Updated: September 10, 2026
The NFT market has contracted sharply in 2026. Sales tracked by CryptoSlam totaled about $1.93 billion between January and August, down 52.1% from $4.03 billion in the same period of 2025.
Transactions and reported buyer activity have also fallen, adding further proof of weaker trading participation. August sales rebounded from July, while tokenized trading-card platforms continued to record activity.
Are NFTs Dead?
NFTs are still being bought and sold, but the market is substantially smaller than a year earlier. CryptoSlam recorded about 25.24 million transactions in January through August 2026, down 44.8% from 45.74 million in the same months of 2025.
Its reported unique buyer count fell from 642,618 in August 2025 to 291,616 in August 2026, a decline of 54.6%. The figure captures buyers active during those months, not people who continued to hold NFTs without making another purchase. People who continue to hold NFTs without buying another one are outside that monthly buyer count.
In August, sales rose 33.1% from July to $292.1 million, although they remained 51.6% below August 2025.
Lower spending alone could reflect cheaper NFTs changing hands. The drop in transactions and reported buyers points to weaker trading participation as well.
NFT Adoption by Country
Finder’s survey of more than 28,000 internet users across 20 markets offers a historical comparison of NFT ownership. Its results appeared in Coin Insider’s original 2021 coverage and were reproduced in a Finder article published by Nasdaq in May 2022.
The Philippines had the highest reported ownership in that survey, followed by Thailand and Malaysia. The figures below come from Finder’s historical survey and are not a current ownership ranking.
| Country or Territory | Reported NFT Ownership |
| Philippines | 32.0% |
| Thailand | 26.6% |
| Malaysia | 23.9% |
| United Arab Emirates | 23.4% |
| Vietnam | 17.4% |
| Nigeria | 13.7% |
| Brazil | 12.1% |
| Hong Kong | 10.7% |
| Venezuela | 10.6% |
| Peru | 9.9% |
| Colombia | 8.4% |
| South Africa | 8.3% |
| Argentina | 7.4% |
| Singapore | 6.8% |
| Canada | 5.6% |
| Australia | 4.6% |
| Germany | 4.0% |
| United States | 2.8% |
| United Kingdom | 2.5% |
| Japan | 2.2% |
Source: Finder’s survey chart, reproduced in its May 2022 Nasdaq article. Percentages refer to surveyed internet users in each market, not a census of NFT owners.
The survey captured self-reported NFT ownership among internet users at the time it was conducted. It cannot establish which country leads today, how many respondents still hold their NFTs or whether those assets can be sold.
Where NFTs Are Still Being Used
Courtyard lets users buy and trade NFTs linked to physical collectibles held in its vault. Its marketplace lets customers trade collectibles held in a vault, while its digital packs reveal physical graded cards. Owners can keep their cards stored or request delivery.
Solana-based Collector Crypt’s monthly volume reached $406 million in June 2026, up from $97 million in January, according to CoinGecko’s second-quarter report. It accounted for 62.8% of the tokenized trading-card platform volume in the report’s June comparison.
CoinGecko reported that, on average, more than 98% of transaction volume on those collectible platforms came from gacha mechanisms. More than 98% of the platforms’ volume came from gacha-style purchases, where buyers pay for a randomized NFT with a chance of receiving a rarer card.
Sorare uses NFT player cards in fantasy sports. Users collect cards, enter teams in competitions scored against athletes’ real performances and offer their cards for sale through its marketplace. The cards unlock fantasy-sports gameplay, while their resale value still depends on demand in Sorare’s marketplace.
What Is Holding Back Wider NFT Adoption?
Sellers still need willing buyers. Sorare’s terms state:
“There is no representation or warranty that a Collectible will maintain a specific value or price if offered for resale.”
Physical collectibles also depend on services outside the blockchain. Courtyard stores the underlying cards, and customers requesting delivery receive an invoice for shipping and applicable taxes. For physical collectibles, the vault, shipping process and taxes remain essential parts of the transaction.
NFT owners must also protect their wallets and signing permissions. Ethereum’s NFT documentation identifies phishing, smart contract vulnerabilities and mistakes such as exposing private keys as sources of risk. Recording ownership on a blockchain does not remove those risks.
August’s rebound showed that NFT trading continues, but sales, transaction counts and buyer activity remained well below their 2025 levels.
