Nike closes its NFT company, says it's a “new chapter”

Three years after sporting apparel giant Nike bought the NFT company RTFKT, it’s now closing it down.

RTFKT ("artifact") announced its plans to wind down operations by January 2025. The company didn't explain what caused this decision, which was rumored as early as March this year.

However, the announcement was labeled "a new chapter for RTFKT," with the team stating it would launch an updated website showcasing "the groundbreaking work that defined" the company's journey.

"RTFKT isn't ending. It's becoming what it was always meant to be – an artifact of cultural revolution," it said, also announcing "more innovation" with the “MNLTH X featuring the Blade Drop.” The company didn't provide any further details about the project.

In December 2021, when Nike acquired the company for an undisclosed sum, John Donahoe, then CEO of Nike, who left this post this past October, said, "This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming, and culture."

However, rumors started circulating as early as March 2024 that the giant might close RTFKT, though the latter's co-founder dismissed the rumors, saying, "Seems like we missed the memo on our shutdown," and quipped, "Stay tuned for the next episode of Rumours from the Cryptoverse."

Seems like we missed the memo on our shutdown 🤔🤣 Stay tuned for the next episode of Rumours from the Cryptoverse

undefined Zaptio RTFKT (@Zaptio) March 18, 2024

In either case, the NFT market has been struggling this year. One major crypto exchange, Kraken, recently announced that it is shutting down its NFT platform.

Meanwhile, data from NFT market analytics provider CryptoSlam shows that NFT sales in November neared $562 million, compared to below $400 million in the previous few months.

However, it was still almost 40% lower than in November 2023. The data also shows that, despite the growth in sales, the number of transactions dropped in November, indicating the rise was driven by increasing prices of popular NFT collections.