The NFT Reset- Why NFTs Were Never About JPEGs

Are NFTs dead or are they finally becoming useful?

In this episode of the Weekly ROAR Podcast, Dustin Hedrick and Brandon Billings explore why NFTs are evolving far beyond digital art and collectibles. As the hype fades, a new generation of utility-driven NFTs is emerging—powering digital identity, access, ownership, and real-world applications across Web3.

The conversation examines how NFTs are becoming the infrastructure for membership, tokenized assets, AI-powered commerce, and decentralized communities. If you've dismissed NFTs as "just JPEGs," this episode will challenge that perspective and show why the next wave is focused on utility, not speculation.

•  Why utility—not collectibles—is driving the next evolution of NFTs 
•  How NFTs are becoming the foundation for digital identity, access, and ownership 
•  What builders, creators, and businesses should understand before the next wave of Web3 adoption 

Resources & Links:
https://www.r0ar.io/
https://www.biznbox.io/

If this episode changed the way you think about NFTs, follow the podcast, share it with someone exploring Web3, and stay connected as we continue unpacking the technologies shaping the future of digital ownership.

Weekly ROAR Podcast with Dustin Hedrick & Brandon Billings
 Sponsored by https://www.r0ar.io/

Weekly ROAR Podcast with Dustin Hedrick & Brandon Billings
Sponsored by https://www.r0ar.io/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to your weekly roar where we break down what actually matters, cut through the noise, and give you something you can use right now. I'm Dustin and I'm Brandon. And today we're diving into a topic that a lot of people think they already understand, but honestly, most of the market got it wrong the first time. So let's get it right this time. We're talking about the NFT reset.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

And the title says it all. Because for a while, that's all people saw. Monkey pictures, pixel monkey pictures. I love my my board ape. Profile pictures, crazy prices, celebrity hype, right? And then the market cooled off, and everybody said, Well, NFTs are dead.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

But that's the lazy take, seriously. The better question is what survived the reset? Because when you look at where crypto is going now, especially after the latest consensus event that we were just at, the bigger story is not NFTs are dead. The bigger story is that everything is moving forward to digital ownership, tokenization, identity, access, payments, and AI-driven commerce is coming.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

So if you ever looked at NFTs and thought, uh, was that the whole thing just a scam or or is there something real underneath it? This one's for you. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

The first thing is let's talk about this week's Spark. This week's Spark is simple. NFTs did not fail because the technology was useless. NFTs failed in the first cycle because the market sold the shallowest version of the technology to the loudest audience. And that seems to be the way it always goes in crypto.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

That's it. That's the whole reset. Uh, because the average person's first experience with NFTs was not ownership infrastructure. It was not ticketing, it was not identity, it was not access control, it was not software licensing, it was not even gaming economies or tokenized membership. It was buy this JPEG and maybe somebody else will pay more for it later. It just really is it.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

And that's where the market got sideways. The JPEG was never the point. The image was the visible layer. The real point was the token beneath it, the proof that a specific wallet owns a specific digital asset tied to a smart contract with rules that can be verified on-chain, timestamped, controlled, and consensus event proving that everyone agrees that this really happened in a moment in time.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

That's right. And when you say it that way, NFTs start to make a lot more sense. An NFT is not just a picture. It can be a key, it can be a membership pass, it can be a software license, it can be a receipt, it can be an identity credential, a collectible, a game asset. It can represent access to a community, a vault, an event, a digital product, or even a real world asset. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

And so the early market just made the mistake of saying, look at the art, um, look at the graphic, look at my JPEG, instead of saying, look at the ownership layer. And now after the reset, the market's finally being forced to ask better questions. So it's not, will this picture go up? But what does this token do? What's the utility? What does it unlock? What rights does it represent? What community does it connect me to? What identity does it verify? What experience does it make possible? And that's super important when you think of the coming Agentech revolution, which we'll talk about in another podcast in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

That's exciting too. So that's the maturity shift. Uh, and this is why the timing matters, because coming out of Consensus 2026, the big conversations were not just about speculative coins. Uh, they were about tokenization, stable coins, AI, institutional adoption, privacy, payments, and agenic commerce. Uh, and that matters because NFTs sit right in the middle of all of those conversations.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Right. So if tokenization is about putting ownership, value, access, and rights on chain, then NFTs are one of the cleanest ways to represent unique ownership. Fungible tokens are great when every unit is exactly the same. One dollar is one dollar, one run war is one run roar token. But NFTs are different. They say this is this thing is unique, this membership is unique, this specific credential is unique, this access pass is unique, this digital identity marker is unique. The item in a game is unique. This license belongs to this wallet. So it's very, very clear that each one are able to be very specifically unique and identifiable in a way that allows people to have verifiable identity, but also uh privacy and uh control.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

That's right. And that brings us to this week's quick take. And here's the thing that most people get wrong they think NFTs were a trend, but NFTs are more like a file format for ownership. The first wave was noisy, the next wave is infrastructure.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

That's a great way to say it. I mean, just it's that simple. When markets mature, the hype gets punished. And so the at the same take or on the other side of it, infrastructure gets stronger. And that's what we're seeing now. The NFT reset is not the funeral, it's the filter.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Uh it filtered out empty projects, copycat collections, uh, celebrity cash grabs, and communities built only around price. Uh, but it did not filter out the actual idea of verifiable digital ownership.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

And that's why this conversation matters for Roar. So if you're out there and you think about what's in it for me, I'm in Roar. Well, for Roar, for Web3, for builders, for creators, and for anyone paying attention to where digital identity and digital commerce are headed, this matters. Because if the next version of the internet is wallet-based, AI-assisted, community-driven, and tokenized, then NFTs are not some old 2021 relic. They're just now hitting their pace. They may become one of the most important tools in the stack. And we've said that from the beginning, and we've built that way from the beginning. So that's ah, I just get excited. That's my favorite part.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Before we get into the next part of this, this might be a good moment to grab a cup of coffee or reset for a second because what we're about to get into goes a layer deeper. The deep dive.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

This week's deep dive. Let's go a little deeper, my friends. The reason NFTs got misunderstood is because the first major wave was dominated by collectibles. And collectibles are not bad. Actually, some of the collectible tokenization that's going on right now is on the front end of RWAs, like Pokemon cards and whatnot. Super cool. Art is not bad. Culture is not bad. Community is not bad. Actually, community is good. We love NFTs to come with community. But when price becomes the only story, the market gets fragile.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

And that's exactly what happened. A lot of people were not buying because they love the art. Uh, they were buying because they believed someone else would come along and pay more. Uh, and that can work for a while. But eventually, if there's no utility, no deep community, no product, no experience, no access, no reason to hold, the whole thing becomes musical chairs. And we know what happens when the music stops.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

People call the whole category dead. But what actually died was just the weakest use case. Think about that. The stronger the use case, and the stronger use cases, they're still here and growing. And some are getting more interesting. So let's walk through a few of those.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

First off, membership. And this is one of the easiest NFT use cases to understand. Instead of having a username and a password for every community, every platform, every subscription, or every event, your wallet can hold the pass. Uh if you hold the NFT, you get access. If you don't hold it, you don't get access. That's pretty simple. Uh that can be for a private community, uh, premium content area, software dashboard, an investor update portal, a business club, a loyalty program, or especially then.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

And see, that's where NFTs become less about speculation and more about permission. They become about access control. And um, that's for me, I think that's one of the first use cases for utility, you can argue. Now, the second is identity. And this is where I think the space gets really interesting because you know me, I'm a privacy guy. And at the same time, I'm an AI guy and more. See, digital identity is one of the biggest unsolved problems on the internet. How do you prove who you are without giving away every platform and all your private data? How do you prove membership without handing over your whole identity and your driver's license every time you touch something? My God, everyone wants my driver's license, even LinkedIn. How do you build reputation across applications? How do you let AI agents act on your behalf without losing control? And as a matter of fact, let's be clear: uh, the Constitution in the United States makes it impossible for AI agents to have true agency because it's outlined in our founding document, the Constitution. Agency has to be by humans. And so that even goes to assets, land, and anything else, bank accounts. AI won't have access to it. So, how do we answer that and give agency without losing total control?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah, and that's that's a huge one because AI agents become more active buying, selling, booking, researching, trading, managing workflows, identity and permissions become critical. Uh you don't want an AI agent just floating around with unlimited authority. You need rules. You need wallet permissions, you need verifiable credentials, you need proof of access, you need a way to say this agent can do this, but not that.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

I mean, one of the things that like I thought of the first time I ever gave an AI agent agency on my local machine so it could actually do work, even though it was my private controlled one. Um, I locked down my password manager so it couldn't read it. Because if it could, it could go lock into anything it wanted to without me saying, okay, think about it. So here's the thing, and we've been saying this from the beginning: NFTs play a role in this. So most folks haven't figured it out yet, but they do. Not every credential needs to be tradable. Some may be soul bound, some may be non-transferable, some may expire, some may update over time, some may unlock certain permissions inside the app. And that's a very different conversation than buy this JPEG. As a matter of fact, we push that in all of our platforms at the moment, and even all of the ones you don't know about yet. Like for the small amount of software you've seen that we built, we have 16 times that amount. I think that's an actual guesstimation. 16 times that amount to 20 times that amount. And they all utilize wallets as the login instead of email and passwords in order to control and secure and privatize your identity.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Absolutely. Uh, and the third concept is gaming. Um, gaming is one of the clearest places where NFTs make sense, but only when the game is actually good. Gamers do not want financial engineering pretending to be fun. They want great games, you know? Uh but if you already have a great game, then ownership of skins, weapons, land, characters, achievements, or digital goods starts to become interesting.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Matter of fact, I like that idea of crossing that over with the identity in logins and people's, you know, avatars on their social media if they want it, because if you're finding your identity in a game, uh that's to the game manufacturer's best interest to have something that's digitally verifiable, that someone owns it, connects to them and their identity, and puts an avatar out there because it drives new users to the game. I'm just saying it's a sideways kind of marketing, but if people are showing up with your avatar on their social media, that's kind of fun. But let's roll back. The NFT should not be the game. We've seen that. I actually have a gaming YouTube channel out there where I bash games, like I bash them. I do a game and I trash it. And to be honest, there's a lot of games out there that are just about ads and spam and privacy breaches. And a lot in the crypto space are just junk because it's it's like your gaming nonsense to get coins and they don't even go anywhere or do anything. The NFT shouldn't be the game. The crypto shouldn't be the game. The NFT should enhance the game or utilize things that are already in the game and make them enhance the marketing aspect and the experience around the internet. So it lets players own items outside a single closed database. It can create secondary markets, it can let items travel across ecosystems if developers design for that. It can give communities a deeper sense of participation. But again, the reset helped here too, because the market is no longer rewarding play-to-earn slogans just because they sound exciting. And that's what was going on. It's asking, is this fun and is it really a real economy? Is it sustainable? Is there a reason to care about it?

SPEAKER_01 14:42

That's right. And that brings us to the the next uh reason for NFTs is real world assets and tokenization. This is probably a big part of the conversation, I would say. Um this is where the consensus uh conversation becomes even more relevant. Um the broader crypto market is talking a lot about tokenizing real world assets, real estate, commodities, bonds, private equity, and other financial instruments. Uh but now not all real world assets need to be NFTs. A lot of them are better represented through fungible tokens or other structures. Uh, but when something is unique, a very specific property, uh specific title, specific collection, a specific invoice, a license agreement, um, NFT style ownership can become useful.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Yeah, I agree. Um, the fifth is creator and brand utility. Imagine a musician using NFTs not just to sell artwork, but to give holders early access to songs, backstage experiences, exclusive merch, voting rights on creative direction or lifetime fan status. Super cool stuff. Imagine a business using NFTs as software access keys. That's what we do. Imagine a conference using NFTs as passes that also store attendance history perks and future discounts. Imagine a brand using NFTs as loyalty cards that actually belong to the customer, not just a company database tracking people and taking advantage of their private information.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

And that is the reset. The old NFT question was, can I flip this? And the new NFT question is, what relationship does this create?

SPEAKER_02 16:35

I mean, honestly, the old question was also, can I flip this? And then it was, of course, when Lambeau. I'm just saying, like the question we all had back then, right? So, but that's strong. And let's be honest for a second. The NFT market deserved part of this criticism that it got. It really did. I mean, we got here honest. There was too much hype, too much low effort minting, uh, too many roadmaps that were just really promises and future speak or hopium, like I call it, too many influencers, too many people using community language when they really meant exit liquidity. I mean, let's be clear. That's what's going on. Um, and and this is the tell. The tell is about the whole exit liquidity and everything. Who's still here? I mean, how many founders have you heard that just took a golden parachute out the back door during this season? We're talking about the last round of winters, like true crypto winters, as we leave all of the Wild, Wild West behind, as things get ultimate clarity, as things are literally consolidating right in front of our eyes. We're watching groups consolidate. As I watch all of these founders either cut the fool, back off, quit, get quiet, or parachute out the back. That's not what's happening here with Roar. We're literally, we're like batting down the hatches and we're finishing this strong because we know that as this starts to settle, as all the dust settles, the last one standing get the most opportunity in this next season. Because, guys, everything we said from before is happening now. The big boys are buying in. This is consolidation. This is that moment. This is where it happens. Can I tell you what the next season is going to look like? No, but I got a good idea. Can I give you financial advice? We never do. But something is changing. And so this is not, this is not just exit liquidity. This is not that language to pump and hype. We're here in the middle of the lows, and we're saying we see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train. Guys, this is about to happen. Something is coming for this ecosystem, this world. It's happening.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Absolutely. Uh, but the mistake is throwing away the whole category because the first version got overheated. Uh, that would be like looking at the dot-com crash and saying the internet was over. Some people thought that maybe. The crash did not kill the internet, it killed a lot of bad business models.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Telling you, I mean, I watched that happen. I was literally in the middle of it going, what is this insanity with people just buying up domains for domain sake? It's the same thing here. The NFT reset is exposing the difference between collectibles with no depth and tokens with a job to do. And for Roar, that matters because we've always looked at digital assets through the lens of utility. This is nothing has changed about our view. We're the guys that have been here all this time for four years at least. We've been allowed about it. So, access, participation, identity, governance, software, wallet activity, launch pads, ecosystem engagement. That's what we've done with them. And so this is real. We're here now. And guess what? We actually are excited about it because this party is not for the folks that hype and pump. This party is for the folks that code and build, and that's what we do.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

For sure. Uh, so the hot seat question if you are holding, building, or launching an NFT project, what does the NFT actually do when nobody is talking about the floor price? That is the question. If the answer is nothing, the reset is coming for it. But if the answer is access, identity, utility, participation, ownership, or real community, then you are thinking in the right direction. All right.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Before we land this, take a second to think about how this actually shows up in your world. Because the next piece is where it all starts to connect.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

So let's bring this home. What should listeners do with this? First, stop using the word NFT like it only means digital art. Please. Uh, that is one use case. It is not the whole category.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

As a matter of fact, I mean, stop using the word NFT altogether. I'm just saying, like some of these terms they need to just disappear into the back end of our language. There needs to be new language for it in the first place, or just true use built-in rails and systems. So the next thing is evaluate NFTs by utility. Ask simple questions. What does it unlock? What does it prove? What does it connect to? Can it be used inside a wallet, app, marketplace, game, community, or business system? Does it create ongoing value for after the mint? And for our NFTs, guys, we'll say this hold on to them because you got access to every single thing we release, even through our partners. And we're gonna start talking about what those partners look like very soon. Super exciting this next season for us as we end 2026, here in the next, you know, eight months and six months, and then we move on to gosh, it's six months, five months, four months. We're getting there. Anyways, so it just goes so fast. But keep your eyes open because you're going to hear more and more about that utility.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

And third, watch the connection between NFTs, wallets, identity, and AI. That is where this gets big because the future is not just people clicking around websites. The future is wallets interacting with apps, AI agents executing tasks, users controlling permissions, and digital assets representing access and ownership. In that world, NFTs are not just collectibles. They can be permission layers.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Exactly. Where you're not having to give away your password and your login, but an API access through a back-end that's gated and controlled and safe and privately executing on your behalf. We will get into that kind of dev speak later, but this lines up with what the broader market is talking about right now. Consensus was not just about one coin or one trend. It was about the convergence of crypto, traditional finance, tokenization, payments, AI, and identity this year. And that's exactly the environment where NFTs can become useful again, not as hype objects, but as ownership objects, as privacy objects, as identity objects. So it's more than just glam, it's cred.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

And for everyday users, this is important because the user experience is getting better. People should not need to understand every smart contract detail to use an NFT. In the long run, they may not even call it an NFT. They may just say, here's my membership pass, here's my access key, my digital ticket, identity credential, software license, or proof of ownership.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

That's actually what we're doing in what we build now. We're using less of the terms and just more of the function. So that's probably how mass adoption happens, to be honest. The technology fades into the background, the utility comes forward. So we're utility forward instead of hype. Most people don't talk about SMTP when they send an email. Like most people don't even know what it means. And they definitely don't talk about HTTPS when they visit a website. And so they don't talk about database architecture when they log into Netflix. So in the same way, the future of MFTs may not be people yelling NFT all day. It may be people using tokenized access without even thinking about it. And to be honest, let's be honest, we already have reports that almost every major bank and player in the financial world, as well as leading industries.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

And when the noise dies down, the real use cases get easier to see. And when the market stops rewarding empty promises, it starts rewarding actual products. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Love that. So in one minute, here's what re this all really means. The first NFT wave was about attention. The next NFT wave is about function. The first wave asked, can we create scarcity? The next wave asks, can we create utility? The first wave sold images. The next wave will power access, identity, ownership, commerce, gaming, memberships, credentials, and real-world tokenization.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

And that is the perspective shift. NFTs were never only about JPEGs. JPEGs were just the first thing people could see.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

The NFT reset is not the end of NFTs. It's the beginning of useful NFTs.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

And that's the roar line right there. The reset is not the end. It's the filter.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

So is it seriously? I mean, Brandon, you and I, we agree. Projects that make it through that filter right now will be the ones that stop selling hype and start delivering access, ownership, identity, and utility. I'm just telling you, that's where it's going.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

That's right. So whether you're a builder, a business owner, a creator, a gamer, an investor, or just someone trying to understand where Web3 is headed, don't judge NFTs by the worst version of the last cycle. Judge them by what they can become when they are connected to real products and real communities. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Yeah, yeah. And you guys, that is where Roar is paying attention. Like we're not asleep at the wheel. Wallets matter, identity matters, access matters, tokenization matters, utility matters. The JPEG was never the finish line for us. It was just the first doorway.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Boom. And that's this week's Roar. If this hit you, uh share it with somebody who needs to hear it and make sure that uh you're tapped in so you don't miss what's coming next.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

We've got more conversations, more clarity, and more real insight coming your way. As always, be sure to follow our show on the platform you found us on. And if you like our podcast, rate and review. If it helps the value, it really does help our value. I'm gonna say that again. It helps our value, it helps our value, it helps our value. So we need you. So, as well as algorithms and all the computery stuff that happens, you make us easier to find. We need your help on that.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Until next time, stay sharp, stay curious, and keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

This is your weekly roar. Have a great one. We'll see you guys next time. Take care, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Thank you for tuning in to your weekly roar podcast. See the show notes to learn more about the topics in today's episode, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss out on the latest high impact trends and strategies shaping the future of decentralized tech.