It’s probably that none of the other crypto use cases really panned out, as they just drew people who were already into crypto, and you can only sell so many things back and forth to the same group of people.
Then this thing called NFTs came and a lot of crypto people shrugged… until they started hearing Eminem and Paris Hilton and Jay-Z were owners. Then they started to care, a lot.
It’s a circular answer, but people care about NFTs because apparently lots of other people also care about NFTs. At heart it may just be that it made a form of buying assets more fun - and that may be enough.
All we can really say w certainty is that famous people took a shine to them and that’s probably enough to ensure success in 2022.
Is it people who missed out (or maybe people who made big bucks) in bitcoin or other crypto wanting to get in early?