Nifty Gateway, one of the earliest and most high-profile online marketplaces for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), announced it will close on February 23, citing sharply declining activity. The platform, which has already entered “withdrawal-only mode,” is advising users to move their assets before the deadline, after which they will no longer be able to buy, sell, or bid on NFTs, though withdrawals will still be possible.
Founded in 2018 by twins Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, Nifty Gateway was designed to make NFT transactions accessible via cryptocurrency or fiat. In 2019, it became the first acquisition of Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. At its height in 2021, the platform reported $300 million in gross merchandise value, boosted by a Sotheby’s partnership for a $17 million NFT drop by the artist Pak.
“The Nifty team pioneered dozens of innovative drops and creative experiences,” Gemini said in its announcement, expressing gratitude to artists and collectors for joining the platform.
The NFT boom, though, has since collapsed. Trading volumes have tanked from billions to mere hundreds of millions annually, with many digital artworks losing all market value. Christie’s shuttered its digital art department last fall, while Sotheby’s drastically reduced its Metaverse team in 2024. Other NFT platforms, including Async Art, KnownOrigin, and MakersPlace, have already closed, leaving Nifty Gateway as one of the last major casualties of the once-booming market.
Current users holding NFTs or balances in USD or ETH will be guided by Gemini on moving their assets to the Gemini ecosystem. The company emphasized that NFTs will continue to be supported through the Gemini wallet, framing the closure as part of a strategic shift to focus on building a “one-stop super app” for crypto customers.
The closure comes after NFT Paris, Europe’s biggest annual conference for the Web3, NFT, and digital ownership community, canceled the event earlier this month just weeks before it was set to open. The organizers said that current market conditions made the event financially impossible.
“The [crypto and NFT] market collapse hit us hard,” NFT Paris’s founder, Alexandre Tsydenkov, wrote on LinkedIn. “Despite drastic cost cuts and months of trying to make it work, we couldn’t pull it off this year.”
