The global trading volume of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) plummeted to 83 billion baht in March from a record high of 157 billion baht in January, with the number of unique buyers declining each month.
However, with NFTs' growth potential in the metaverse, certain NFT community members remain hopeful over its future in Thailand.
NFTs, a type of digital asset linked to a digital file such as an image or a video, skyrocketed in popularity after one sold for 2.3 billion baht in March 2021.
However, according to sales history data from CryptoSlam, NFT global transactions jumped to 157 billion baht in January 2022 before sinking to just 83 billion baht in March.
The same data also shows that the NFT trading scene saw a rapid drop in unique buyers, from 900,000 in January and February to 664,077 in March.
The NFT market stagnation has taken place since the 21-billion-baht digital heist of the NFT-based video game Axie Infinity and the depreciation of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first-ever-tweet NFT, which was originally sold for 99 million baht but is now attracting bids of only 231,200 baht, or 0.5% of the original purchase price.
Both events may be indicative of changing sentiment towards the NFT market.
However, despite the deterioration in sentiment, some market participants remain hopeful for NFTs and their future in Thailand, including Apichat Saethang, administrator of the NFT Marketplace Thailand Facebook page.
"The NFT trend seems to be slowing down this year, but if we consider how NFTs will be utilised as an integral part of the metaverse and gain more acceptance in the future, they're worth investing in right now," he said.
In terms of the Thai NFT scene, Mr Apichat explained that NFTs are mostly popular with younger members of the public. He believes that future generations will be able to access NFTs more easily because of leading institutions in the country educating them about the asset.
Khematin Khamdee, another NFT trader, said that NFTs will have a future in Thailand as long as there is a dedicated community supporting them.