Ethereum News Today: Ethereum Could Surpass 2021 Highs as NFT Sector Revives

Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chair Yat Siu has expressed his belief that a resurgence in the NFT sector could push Ethereum to new all-time highs, surpassing its previous peak during the 2021 bull run. In a recent post, Siu highlighted the historical relationship between Ethereum’s price and NFT market activity, noting that Ethereum last hit its all-time high of around $4,800 in November 2021, coinciding with the peak of the NFT boom.

Since then, both Ethereum and the broader NFT sector have faced a prolonged downturn. However, signs of a revival are emerging, with blue-chip NFT collections like CryptoPunks recently seeing double-digit floor price gains. The total NFT market capitalization has surpassed $10 billion and is steadily approaching its 2021 high of $15.6 billion. This sector uptrend has also coincided with Ethereum crossing the $3,800 mark for the first time since December 2024.

Siu believes that ETH’s price could rise if the community taps into NFTs as cultural items to be embraced rather than viewed solely as financial instruments. He argued that NFTs embody identity, social status, and community belonging, which drive real economic value. Siu acknowledged that NFT trading has become increasingly fragmented across different blockchains, with Ethereum’s dominance in the sector now accounting for less than half of all NFT trading volume when excluding Layer 2 networks.

Despite the fragmentation, Siu sees Ethereum’s cultural influence as a long-term advantage. He compared the cultural role of NFTs to luxury brands such as Hermès and Rolex, which are valued for symbolism rather than utility. He stated, “You don’t buy a Birkin bag to put stuff in it just as much as you don’t buy a Rolex to tell the time. NFTs represent the cultural, social and symbolic power of a community.”

Siu also emphasized ETH’s unique role as a spending token, unlike Bitcoin, which he described as rooted in a “HODL” culture. According to him, “ETH is a utility token and holding it is for the opportunity to engage in something important i.e to spend such as in DeFi, some token and yes also NFTs. This is also the reason why ETH rising is bullish on-chain because we spend unlike BTC users whose culture is infinite HODL.”

Considering this, he urged Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to embrace NFTs as financial assets and pillars of Ethereum’s cultural economy. He stressed, “NFTs are the backbone of the Ethereum cultural economy much more than just financial, it’s about culture, status and ultimately belonging.”