• Nifty Gateway is shutting down on February 23, 2026, following a large collapse in NFT buying and selling quantity and a shift in market curiosity.
  • Gemini is pivoting to a “tremendous app” and can now handle NFTs completely by its pockets product slightly than a devoted market.
  • The platform is in withdrawal-only mode, forcing customers to maneuver property off-chain and elevating issues concerning the long-term accessibility of custodied artwork.

NFT market Nifty Gateway is closing down on February 23 this 12 months. The platform has already switched to withdrawal-only mode after a steep drop in buying and selling and waning curiosity in NFTs. 

{The marketplace}’s proprietor, crypto alternate Gemini, mentioned it should now concentrate on constructing a broader “tremendous app” and can deal with NFTs solely by its Gemini Pockets product.

The abrupt transfer to withdrawal-only mode has shifted consideration to asset restoration as a result of customers now want to maneuver their NFTs off the platform. Nonetheless, artists and collectors are additionally asking what occurs to works minted and saved by a custodial system and the way reliably these items will stay accessible sooner or later.

Learn extra: JPMorgan Pours Cold Water on Ethereum’s Post-Upgrade Bounce

A Centralised Design and a Useless Market

The story of Nifty Gateway reveals the trade-off on the coronary heart of its design. A centralised, custodial platform made NFTs straightforward to purchase and helped flip on-chain artwork right into a mainstream product. On the identical time, it left customers depending on a single firm’s infrastructure and long-term enterprise choices.

Based in 2018 by Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, Nifty Gateway allowed purchases in each crypto and fiat, together with playing cards, reducing friction for a broad viewers. Throughout the 2021 growth, it processed about US$300 million (AU$459 million) in gross merchandise worth by unique drops with artists and celebrities. 

However Nifty Gateway’s enchantment was its simplicity. Customers might pay with bank cards, skip self-custody, and purchase from tightly curated drops. That mannequin made it a key on-ramp through the 2020–2021 NFT surge, particularly for individuals who had by no means used a crypto pockets. 

After Gemini acquired the corporate in 2019, it hosted high-profile releases from artists equivalent to Beeple and Pak and have become a well-recognized place to begin for brand spanking new collectors.

NFT buying and selling volumes fell from over US$50 billion (AU$76.5 billion) per quarter in 2022 to round US$1.25 billion (AU$1.9 billion) within the fourth quarter of 2025, so it’s type of apparent the platform’s mannequin couldn’t face up to the downturn.

Learn extra: No Turning Back for Crypto in Wall Street’s Engine Room, Says PwC

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