Animoca buys Somo as NFT market rebounds early in 2026

Animoca Brands has doubled down on digital collectibles after acquiring the gaming and collectibles company Somo, expanding its footprint in Web3-native entertainment and adding Somo’s playable, streamable and tradable collectibles to Animoca’s portfolio of blockchain-based platforms.

The company said Wednesday it plans to integrate Somo into its broader Web3 ecosystem, leveraging cross-promotion, shared infrastructure and its global network of partners to accelerate the growth of the brand.

“SOMO is building the cultural operating system for collectibles, which complements our existing portfolio,” said Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu.

“By bringing SOMO into the Animoca Brands ecosystem, we aim 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 early in 2026, with market capitalization climbing roughly 20% in the first two weeks of the year.

Total NFT market cap in the last 14 days. Source: CoinGecko

NFT market cap climbs 20% in the first two weeks of 2026

The global NFT market cap rose roughly 20% in the first two weeks of 2026, climbing from about $2.5 billion on Jan 1 to over $3 billion by Wednesday, according to data from CoinGecko.

The rebound marks one of the NFT market’s strongest short-term recoveries in over a year, following a prolonged market slump that weighed on prices and activity throughout 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 market cap hovered a little below $2.7 billion before surging to $3 billion in just 24 hours, recording a $300 million gain. This was accompanied by an 18.7% increase in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinGecko.

A community member attributed the pump to blue-chip NFTs pumping, high-value sales increasing and new NFTs airdropping tokens. “We’ve seen this pattern before. Is 2026 the next NFT cycle or just a fake bounce?” the X user wrote.

Related: What the NFT Paris cancellation says about the current state of the NFT market

NFTs are still down 59% year over year

Despite its recent gains, the NFT sector remains far below its previous cycle highs, underscoring how compressed valuations have become.

On Jan. 14, 2025, the NFT market cap stood at roughly $7.3 billion, which means that despite the recent bounce, the sector is still down by 59% year over year.

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