NFT

Layer 2 networks built on Ethereum allow users to process transactions faster and at significantly lower cost while still relying on the main chain for security. By bridging assets from Layer 1 to networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, or zkSync, users can trade, stake, and handle NFTs with reduced congestion and fees. This approach helps make DeFi platforms and NFT marketplaces more scalable and accessible for everyday crypto activity.

Following a Dec. 27 exploit on the Flow blockchain, loan settlements on NFT lending platform Flowty were halted after the Cadence execution environment was paused until the morning of Dec. 29. Flowty reported 11 loans maturing during the outage, with multiple defaults and two unsettled positions, and has since stopped all settlements while keeping affected loans outstanding. The FLOW token price fell sharply after the incident and continued to decline to $0.086 as ecosystem functionality, including token swaps, remains impaired.

South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit issued an institutional warning and fines totaling ₩27.3 billion ($1.89 million) to crypto exchange Korbit after an on-site inspection conducted October 16–29, 2024. According to the FIU, roughly 22,000 AML breaches were found, spanning customer identification failures, transaction-restriction gaps, transfers via unregistered overseas platforms, and deficient risk assessments for new products.

According to CryptoSlam, NFT supply grew to over 1.34 billion in 2025, up 25% from 1 billion in 2024, while sales value dropped 37% to about $5.63 billion and the average sale price declined to $96 from $124. CoinGecko data indicates market capitalization peaked near $17 billion in April 2022 and ended 2025 around $2.4 billion.

Rarible's RARI token surged 94.5% in the past 24 hours, with daily trading volume expanding 20-fold and market cap at $7.27 million. Despite the spike, RARI failed to overcome the $0.5 resistance and was trading around $0.35, while long-running downtrend signals and weak user metrics pointed to limited chances of a sustained reversal.

On Monday, Shiba Inu introduced "Shib Owes You", a restructuring plan that tokenizes exploit-related losses as transferable NFTs on Ethereum. The framework lets affected users hold, split, or sell claims while ecosystem revenues are redirected to a repayment pool. The infrastructure has been audited, and the interface is not yet live.

On December 27, 2025, NFT sales volume edged down 0.47% to $65.58 million from $67.76 million last week. Market participation rebounded, with buyers up 26% to 292,030 and sellers up 24% to about 205,205, while transactions slipped 0.95% to 869,747. Ethereum sales fell 23.92% to $20.88 million.

Japan's ruling coalition released its 2026 tax reform blueprint on December 19, outlining how crypto assets could be treated within the national tax system. According to CoinPost, the plan considers separate taxation for gains from spot trading, derivatives, and crypto ETFs, and proposes loss carryforward for up to three years. Staking, lending rewards, and NFTs are not explicitly covered.

Pudgy Penguins ran animated visuals across the Las Vegas Sphere’s exterior, with the display going live on Christmas Eve, according to a post on X. The 2021-founded NFT project, acquired by Luca Netz in April 2022 for $2.5 million in Ether, has broadened into physical toys alongside digital collectibles.

In December 2025, the NFT market's total valuation fell to $2.5 billion, down 72% from the $9.2 billion peak recorded in January. Alongside the price weakness, unique buyers, sellers and transactions all declined, while most top NFT collections saw double-digit floor price drops over the past 30 days despite a few art-focused projects and Sports Rollbots showing relative resilience.