NFTs: Is the bubble bursting?

The GIST: The latest digital innovation may have peaked too soon. Axios reported Monday that sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are significantly down from last year — 12.7K NFTs were sold on Friday, compared to multiple 200K days during summer 2021.

Women’s sports x NFTs: Many in the sports world jumped on the NFT bandwagon early. Power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe dropped a collection alongside other elite female athletes in May, and the WNBA entered the space in August.

• Despite the low sales, NFT supply isn’t slowing down yet. The International Cricket Council debuted a collection during this month’s Women’s World Cup, and the University of Oregon launched an NFT platform in February that directly benefits its student-athletes.

Zooming out: Good news: while the NFT decline is obvious, they aren’t going anywhere, and NFT popularity is expected to be cyclical.

• Alexis Ohanian — co-founder of NWSL club Angel City FC — projects that NFTs and trading cards will be huge for women’s sports, with eBay confirming earlier this month that interest in women’s sports cards is rapidly growing.