Changpeng Zhao is not ready to write off NFTs or DAOs. In a recent interview, the Binance founder said both narratives will return, just not in the form most people remember.
“I think many things will have a second wind, but the second wind will most likely be a little bit different,” CZ said. He noted that concepts like DAOs and NFTs may evolve into new iterations, sometimes referred to as “NFT2,” while still carrying similar ideas.
On tokenized art, he added that it is likely to regain momentum multiple times in the future, even if the timing of a sustained breakout remains uncertain. He expects tokenization of art and similar assets to eventually become significantly larger than current levels.
CZ’s bullish outlook comes at a time when the market is still reflecting on the fallout and fading hype from the 2021 boom cycle.
NFTs peaked in early 2022 at the height of one of crypto’s most speculative periods. A 2023 analysis found that 95% of NFT collections had become essentially worthless. By 2025, the overall NFT art market had declined 93% from its peak.
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, which were changing hands for hundreds of thousands of dollars at peak mania, fell over 80% from their highs.
An estimated 60% of NFT trades in early 2022 were wash trading, meaning buyers and sellers were effectively the same entity, inflating prices artificially. When the broader crypto market turned, the NFT market had nothing to fall back on.
CZ’s argument is not that the last cycle was justified. It is that the technology underneath it was real and still maturing.
He drew a comparison to DAOs, which have existed as a concept for years without ever truly breaking through. “DAOs haven’t really taken off, to be honest,” he said. But he compared it to video streaming in the early 2010s, a technology that existed, worked poorly, frustrated users, and then quietly became the dominant form of entertainment consumption within a decade.
His point was about timing, not viability. CZ said that the infrastructure was not ready and the user experience was not there. CZ’s view is that the next iteration will arrive with a tweak, the kind of small adjustment that makes something that previously failed suddenly work at scale.
Related: NFT Debate Deepens as Experts Clash on Market’s Future