Animoca buys Somo as NFT market rebounds early in 2026
Animoca Manufacturers has doubled down on digital collectibles after buying the gaming and collectibles firm Somo, increasing its footprint in Web3-native leisure and including Somo’s playable, streamable and tradable collectibles to Animoca’s portfolio of blockchain-based platforms.
The corporate stated Wednesday it plans to combine Somo into its broader Web3 ecosystem, leveraging cross-promotion, shared infrastructure and its world community of companions to speed up the expansion of the model.
“SOMO is constructing the cultural working system for collectibles, which enhances our current portfolio,” stated Animoca Manufacturers co-founder and government chairman Yat Siu.
“By bringing SOMO into the Animoca Manufacturers ecosystem, we goal to attach it to our world community of video games, communities, and companions.”
The deal comes because the non-fungible token (NFT) market confirmed renewed momentum early in 2026, with market capitalization climbing roughly 20% within the first two weeks of the yr.
Whole NFT market cap within the final 14 days. Supply: CoinGecko
NFT market cap climbs 20% within the first two weeks of 2026
The worldwide NFT market cap rose roughly 20% within the first two weeks of 2026, climbing from about $2.5 billion on Jan 1 to over $3 billion by Wednesday, in accordance with knowledge from CoinGecko.
The rebound marks one of many NFT market’s strongest short-term recoveries in over a yr, following a protracted market hunch that weighed on costs and exercise all through 2025.
24-hour NFT heatmap. Supply: CoinGecko
CoinGecko exhibits {that a} sharp bounce between Tuesday and Wednesday accounted for a good portion of the positive factors.
On Tuesday, the NFT market cap hovered somewhat under $2.7 billion earlier than surging to $3 billion in simply 24 hours, recording a $300 million achieve. This was accompanied by an 18.7% enhance in 24-hour buying and selling quantity, in accordance with CoinGecko.
A neighborhood member attributed the pump to blue-chip NFTs pumping, high-value gross sales growing and new NFTs airdropping tokens. “We’ve seen this sample earlier than. Is 2026 the following NFT cycle or only a pretend bounce?” the X person wrote.
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NFTs are nonetheless down 59% yr over yr
Regardless of its latest positive factors, the NFT sector stays far under its earlier cycle highs, underscoring how compressed valuations have turn into.
On Jan. 14, 2025, the NFT market cap stood at roughly $7.3 billion, which implies that regardless of the latest bounce, the sector remains to be down by 59% yr over yr.
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