Animoca Brands has doubled down on digital collectibles after acquiring gaming and collectibles company Somo, expanding its footprint in Web3-native entertainment and adding Somo’s playable, streamable and tradeable collectibles to Animoca’s portfolio of blockchain-based platforms.
The company said Wednesday that it plans to integrate Somo into its broader Web3 ecosystem, leveraging cross-promotion, shared infrastructure and its global network of partners to accelerate the brand’s growth.
“SOMO is building a cultural operating system for collectibles that complements our existing portfolio,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands.
“By bringing SOMO into the Animoca Brands ecosystem, we want to connect it to our global network of games, communities and partners.”
The deal comes as the non-fungible token (NFT) market showed renewed momentum in early 2026, with market capitalization rising by around 20% in the first two weeks of the year.
Total NFT market cap in the last 14 days. Source: CoinGecko
NFT market capitalization increases by 20% in the first two weeks of 2026
According to data from CoinGecko, the global market capitalization of NFT increased by about 20% in the first two weeks of 2026, from about $2.5 billion on January 1 to over $3 billion on Wednesday.
The recovery marks one of the NFT market’s strongest short-term recoveries in more than a year, following a prolonged market downturn that weighed on prices and activity in 2025.
24-hour NFT heatmap. Source: CoinGecko
CoinGecko shows that a sharp jump between Tuesday and Wednesday accounted for a significant portion of the gains.
On Tuesday, the NFT’s market cap hovered just below $2.7 billion before surging to $3 billion in just 24 hours, netting a profit of $300 million. According to CoinGecko, this was accompanied by an 18.7% increase in 24-hour trading volume.
A community member attributed the pump to pumping blue-chip NFTs, increasing high-value sales and releasing new NFTs tokens. “We’ve seen this pattern before. Is 2026 the next NFT cycle or just a fake bounce?” wrote the X user.
Related: What the cancellation of NFT Paris says about the current state of the NFT market
NFTs are still down 59% year over year
Despite recent gains, the NFT sector remains well below its previous cycle highs, underscoring how compressed valuations have become.
As of January 14, 2025, the NFT market cap was approximately $7.3 billion, meaning that despite the recent rebound, the sector is still down 59% year over year.
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