OpenSea CMO predicts tokenized collectibles will drive NFT resurgence

The non-fungible token market may have seen better days, but OpenSea’s chief marketing officer thinks the underlying technology is still very much alive. In a recent interview at Consensus Miami, Adam Hollander told The Block’s Gareth Jenkinson that tokenizing physical and digital assets makes perfect sense.

Why tokenize collectibles?

Hollander argued that NFTs remain a valid way to prove ownership of things like trading cards, watches, and tickets. He believes the next wave of adoption will come from tokenized Pokémon cards, Rolex watches, event tickets, gaming items, and AI-generated content. “It makes nothing but sense,” he said, for these kinds of assets to be moved onchain.

The previous NFT boom, which peaked in 2021 and 2022, was driven largely by speculation, Hollander noted. Profile-picture collections like Bored Apes and CryptoPunks saw wild price swings, but much of that was more about gambling than genuine interest, he argued. “A lot of people who were buying NFTs were not buying them because they actually wanted them,” Hollander said.

A shift in focus

Hollander predicts a resurgence, but he thinks it will look different. The hype and easy money are gone. What remains, in his view, is the real utility: proving ownership and enabling transfer of assets. He also pointed to recent advances in artificial intelligence. AI tools are lowering the barrier for creating digital art, animation, and games, which could accelerate NFT adoption. “It’s becoming easier and easier for virtually anybody to create amazing things,” he said.

OpenSea’s evolving platform

OpenSea itself is undergoing changes. Hollander said the company wants to be a single hub where users manage all their crypto assets, NFTs, and collectibles across multiple wallets and blockchains. “I want all my assets, all my wallets, all of my blockchains, all in one place,” he said.

To attract mainstream users, OpenSea is simplifying onboarding. It’s adding Apple Pay-like fiat payments and displaying prices in dollars rather than Ethereum. Hollander gave a simple example: “People don’t expect to see that that item costs 0.00-something Ethereum when they want to buy their $20 Pokémon card.”

The token launch question

Hollander also addressed the long-delayed SEA token. He said the decision to launch sits with the OpenSea Foundation, not with marketing. He didn’t offer a timeline but cautioned against launching a token for the wrong reasons. “If a token is launched and it is nothing more than a memecoin to be launched, dropped, and forgotten, then it doesn’t really deliver value to anybody,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether tokenized collectibles can revive the NFT market, but Hollander seems convinced that the technology has a second act ready to play.

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