It's been four years since the NFT boom peaked back in September 2021, and the landscape looks pretty grim for most of the sector. But hey, there's a silver lining with Crypto Punks making a surprising comeback. This insight comes straight from a recent tweet by Sisyphus (@0xSisyphus), who's been tracking these trends annually. As someone who's covered crypto from the editorial desks at CoinDesk and now diving deep into meme tokens at Meme Insider, I find this update particularly fascinating because it highlights the contrasts between NFTs and the wild world of meme coins.

Let's break down the key points from the tweet. Sisyphus compares the NFT market in September 2025 to its 2021 heyday:

• NFT trading volumes, unique buyers, and overall activity metrics are still down a whopping 90% from the peak. That's no small dip—it's a sustained slump that shows the hype hasn't returned.
• Major auction houses are shutting down their NFT divisions due to lack of demand. It's like the industry's going in reverse on adoption, which is tough to see for anyone who's been in the space.
• On a brighter note, Crypto Punks—those iconic pixelated profile pics that kicked off the NFT craze—have surged 3x from the previous year. They're now only about 50% off their all-time high from 2021. That's resilience in a sea of red.

The tweet also throws in "Hyperliquid" at the end, which might be nodding to the Hyperliquid platform, a decentralized exchange that's been gaining traction in perp trading and could be influencing some NFT liquidity discussions. But the core message is clear: NFTs as a whole are struggling, except for blue-chip collections like Punks.

This update builds on Sisyphus's three-year check-in from 2024, where things were even bleaker—royalties had tanked to zero, and prices for collections like Punks were down 60% or more. Fast-forward a year, and while the broader market hasn't budged, Punks are defying gravity. Why? It could be their status as OG digital art, attracting collectors who see them as the Bitcoin of NFTs—scarce, historical, and culturally significant.

Now, how does this tie into meme tokens, the bread and butter here at Meme Insider? Replies to the tweet spark some interesting comparisons. One user points out that no meme coin has broken its previous all-time high if we're stacking them against NFTs, while another notes that traditional collectibles are in a bull market, making the NFT downturn sting even more. Meme tokens, often born from viral internet culture, share DNA with NFTs—think community-driven value and speculative frenzy. But unlike NFTs, which rely heavily on uniqueness and ownership proofs, meme coins thrive on liquidity, social momentum, and sometimes sheer absurdity.

In the meme token space, we've seen projects like Dogecoin or newer ones on Solana pump hard during bull runs, often outpacing NFT recoveries. This NFT stagnation could be a cautionary tale: diversification matters. If you're a blockchain practitioner eyeing meme tokens, consider how established "blue chips" like Crypto Punks hold value through scarcity, much like top-tier memes hold cultural cachet. But the real lesson? The crypto world evolves fast—yesterday's NFT hype is today's meme token mania.

If you're building or trading in the meme ecosystem, keep an eye on these crossovers. NFTs might be down, but innovations like fractional ownership or meme-NFT hybrids could spark the next wave. For now, props to Crypto Punks for bucking the trend. What's your take—will NFTs bounce back, or are meme tokens the future? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

For the full thread and context, check out the original post here. Stay tuned to Meme Insider for more updates on how these trends impact the meme token knowledge base.