Nike, Starbucks And Co Exit NFTs But Crypto-Natives Remain Put

Nike is going through a $5 million lawsuit from a gaggle of people that purchased its Nike-themed non-fungible tokens. The report follows the worldwide footwear and attire large’s closure of its RTFKT (pronounced artifact) unit in December 2024. It comes at a time when NFT transaction volumes have fallen to document lows regardless of the latest resurgence within the crypto market.

A handful of different NFT corporations have additionally closed their NFT initiatives together with Starbucks, DraftKings and notably X2Y2, which sooner or later was one of many largest NFT marketplaces.

Nevertheless, not all imagine that the present state of the NFT market spells curtains for the trade, with Solana-based decentralized alternate platform Jupiter consolidating its technique for the crypto trade with the acquisition of digital collectibles platform DRiP Haus.

Nike, Starbucks and Gamestop Retreat from NFTs

The NFT market fell 24% within the first quarter of 2025 to $1.5 billion in comparison with the previous quarter, in keeping with a DappRadar report. Nevertheless, the variety of gross sales was down 10%, implying a considerable decline within the common worth for NFTs offered versus the amount.

The $1.5 billion buying and selling quantity recorded between January and March 2025 is only a fraction of the $5.7 billion recorded for the ultimate week of January 2022, when the trade was at its peak, as per Token Terminal data.

The Token Terminal additionally exhibits that while NFT buying and selling quantity fell by 24% in the newest quarter in comparison with This fall 2024, there was a major enchancment over the previous two quarters when in comparison with the previous two.

That surge was linked to the final positivity surrounding the crypto market within the wake of President Trump’s election. However even such optimism couldn’t stop Nike from implementing its beforehand rumored plan of action of shutting down RTFKT.

In December, RTFKT introduced through Musk’s X platform that it was winding down its NFT enterprise. In January, the corporate concluded its artistic journey with the launch of the MNLTH X Blade Drop, launched in collaboration with the 3D-printing footwear producer Zellerfeld.

Final week, photos of CloneX NFTs on the NFT market OpenSea briefly disappeared after Cloudflare downgraded the account answerable for serving the recordsdata. The CloneX NFT assortment is likely one of the largest by gross sales quantity on RTFKT’s portfolio with 470,434.88 ETH, in keeping with CoinMarketCap knowledge.

On the peak of the NFT increase, Nike was reported to be the best-performing mainstream model within the trade, producing $185 million from NFT gross sales as of June 2022.

Simply over two and a half years down the road, and almost 4 months after information that RTFKT was shutting down, the corporate is now going through a $5 million lawsuit from a gaggle of people that bought its NFTs.

Within the class motion filed in Brooklyn, New York federal courtroom on Friday, the purchasers declare the closure of Nike’s RTFKT platform precipitated the demand for his or her NFTs to dry up, Reuters reported.

Nike just isn’t the one mainstream model that’s shifting away from NFTs. In March 2024, Starbucks formally closed its NFT royalty program. Within the previous month, Gamestop additionally closed its NFT market, simply months after eradicating assist for its NFT pockets. In each instances, Gamestop pointed to persevering with regulatory uncertainty within the crypto trade.

Final month, NFT market X2Y2, which as soon as was among the many largest platforms by transaction quantity additionally mentioned it’s closing its NFT enterprise to concentrate on decentralized synthetic intelligence. The corporate pointed to the declining NFT transaction exercise as the primary cause for its determination. The corporate mentioned NFT buying and selling quantity had fallen 90% from its all-time highs.

Crypto Natives Increase NFT Methods

Whereas a number of the largest manufacturers appear to be retreating from NFTs, some crypto-native corporations have chosen to remain, and are actually, consolidating their positions within the area.

Earlier this month, Solana DEX platform Jupiter mentioned it’s buying digital collectibles platform DRiP Haus, as a part of a broader technique of upgrading the platform right into a “tremendous app”.

Web3 tremendous apps are decentralized purposes that supply completely different companies inside a single platform, together with token buying and selling, NFTs, funds and cryptocurrency swaps.

“We don’t imagine it,” Jupiter’s Kash Dhanda instructed CoinDesk about claims that NFTs are useless. “We expect NFTs are right here for the long run.”

Different NFT initiatives like Pudgy Penguins and Doodles have proven what could possibly be the following evolution of NFTs, by increasing their their technique into gaming and launching tokens. Whereas PFP NFTs nonetheless dominate gross sales with about 56% of quantity, as per DappRadar, gross sales have been falling extra drastically in comparison with gaming NFTs, that are second in transaction exercise.

Final October, Pudgy Penguins introduced it’s growing a AAA blockchain recreation “Pudgy Celebration” set to debut on iOS and Android in 2025.

The corporate additionally launched the PENGU token, with 25.9% distributed to the Pudgy neighborhood, which incorporates Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, and Pudgy Rods NFT holders.

In February this yr, Doodles additionally announced it’s launching a Solana-based token, DOOD, as a part of an expanded NFT technique that positions the model as an leisure firm targeted on immersive storytelling. The token will later launch on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Base.