Decoding Return Spillovers Among NFTs,Cryptocurrencies and the Energy Market in a Transforming Financial Landscape—A Quantile-based Approach

The financial world stands witness to newer investment alternatives like digital assets (cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens [NFTs]) and the energy market (dirty energy and clean energy). Despite these advancements, their relationship has received little scholarly attention. This study illuminates dynamic interconnections among these two dominant and novel asset classes from 31 December 2019 to 21 January 2026 using the quantile connectedness approach. The results demonstrate increased connectedness during periods of turmoil. Oil and gas remain constant as net receivers, and Decentraland and Theta as net transmitters. Interestingly, clean energy indices remain net receivers during normal market situations but become net transmitters during extreme ones, signalling a good diversifying potential. Cryptocurrencies tend to be net receivers at the median and upper quantiles but shift to net transmitters at lower quantiles. The results signify an increasing technology and sustainability-driven economic shift. The current study contributes to the existing literature by being one of the preliminary studies to check the relationship between these two prominent asset classes and holds important implications for various stakeholders. It offers insights for investors and corporates to focus on technology and clean energy markets while advising policymakers and regulators to roll out policies and regulations that streamline these emerging sectors.