Interview with Yuki Tanaka | NFT Strategist | Former Head of Digital at Sotheby's Metaverse

The NFT market crashed 95% from its 2022 peak. Bored Apes lost most of their value. OpenSea laid off staff. The mainstream declared NFTs dead. Yuki Tanaka disagrees — she sees the technology finally finding its purpose.

2049.news: NFTs went from everywhere to nowhere. What happened?

Yuki Tanaka: Speculation happened, then unhappened. The 2021-2022 boom was a speculative mania. People weren't buying art — they were buying lottery tickets with monkey pictures. When the music stopped, 99% of projects went to zero because they had no value beyond "number go up."

That's not an indictment of NFT technology. It's an indictment of speculation. The underlying primitive — verifiable digital ownership — remains powerful. We just had to burn through the nonsense to find real applications.

2049.news: What real applications are you seeing now?

Yuki Tanaka: Several categories are quietly thriving.

Gaming items are the most obvious. In-game assets that players actually own, can trade, and can take between compatible games. Fortnite skins are worth billions, but Epic owns them all. NFT gaming gives that ownership to players. Projects like Parallel and Illuvium are building games where asset ownership matters.

Ticketing is underrated. NFT tickets eliminate scalping through programmable royalties — original sellers capture secondary market value. They enable post-event utility — your concert ticket becomes a membership token. Ticketmaster is threatened enough that they're building their own solution.

Membership and access passes work beautifully. Token-gated communities, exclusive content, real-world benefits. Less about speculation, more about belonging. Some of the most engaged NFT communities have floor prices near zero but incredibly active holders.

Digital identity is emerging. Your NFTs become your on-chain resume — proof of attendance at events, completion of courses, participation in communities. Soulbound tokens that can't be transferred, representing achievements rather than assets.

2049.news: What about digital art? Is that market dead?

Yuki Tanaka: The speculative art market is dead. The actual art market is healthier than ever.

Here's the distinction. In 2021, people bought art-like objects hoping to flip them. Most buyers couldn't name the artist a week later. That market collapsed because it was never about art.

The serious digital art market — collectors who care about artists, provenance, and craft — is thriving quietly. Platforms like Foundation, SuperRare, and Art Blocks continue hosting significant sales. The difference: buyers actually want the art, not just the potential return.

Generative art in particular found its audience. Art Blocks Curated drops still sell out instantly. Collectors appreciate the intersection of code and creativity. It's a legitimate art movement that happens to use blockchain for provenance.

2049.news: The royalty debate damaged creator confidence. Has that been resolved?

Yuki Tanaka: Partially. The 2023 royalty wars were painful. Marketplaces competed by eliminating creator royalties, essentially stealing from artists to attract traders.

The market has bifurcated. High-volume, speculative trading happens on royalty-optional platforms. Collector-focused platforms enforce royalties. Creators choose where to launch based on their priorities.

Technically, royalties can now be enforced on-chain through newer standards. Manifold's royalty registry, ERC-721C, and similar solutions give creators control. The tools exist — adoption is spreading.

My view: projects that respect creators will have better creator relationships, better art, and ultimately better collector communities. The race to the bottom was a temporary aberration.

2049.news: What's your take on brand NFTs? Most corporate attempts flopped.

Yuki Tanaka: Most flopped because brands treated NFTs as marketing gimmicks rather than products. Drop some JPEGs, generate buzz, move on. That's not a strategy — it's a stunt.

The brands succeeding treat NFTs as ongoing relationships. Nike's .SWOOSH platform lets members co-create products. Starbucks Odyssey — before they paused it — built genuine engagement through collectible experiences. These approaches take years, not weeks.

The fundamental insight: NFTs enable direct, persistent relationships between brands and customers. No intermediary platform taking a cut. No algorithm deciding who sees what. Direct ownership-based connection.

Brands that understand this will build significant communities. Brands that want quick PR wins will keep failing.

2049.news: Where do you see NFTs in five years?

Yuki Tanaka: Invisible infrastructure. The best outcome is people using NFT technology without knowing or caring.

You'll buy a game item. It'll be an NFT, but the interface will just say "your item." You'll get a concert ticket. It'll be an NFT, but you'll just scan it like any other ticket. You'll earn a credential. It'll be a soulbound NFT, but you'll just see a badge on your profile.

The technology fades into the background while the benefits remain: true ownership, portability, programmability, transparency.

The word "NFT" might even disappear. Too much baggage from the speculative era. But the technology will be everywhere, just called something else.

2049.news: Any predictions for 2025 specifically?

Yuki Tanaka: A major gaming studio — not a crypto-native one — will launch a successful NFT integration that players actually like. That's the inflection point.

We'll see NFT ticketing reach 10% market share in at least one major market. Probably Asia first, then spreading.

One prediction I hope is wrong: regulatory crackdowns on NFTs as securities. Some fraction definitely are securities, and enforcement is coming. The collateral damage to legitimate use cases will be significant.

But overall? I'm more optimistic about NFTs now than I was during the boom. The speculation needed to clear for the real building to begin. We're in the building phase now.

Yuki Tanaka advises brands and artists on NFT strategy. She previously led digital initiatives at Sotheby's Metaverse and holds an MBA from Keio University.