Nifty gateway shutdown deepens NFT market slump

Gemini has confirmed the nifty gateway shutdown as the once-flagship NFT art marketplace enters its final phase following years of sector turbulence.

Nifty Gateway winds down operations

Nifty Gateway, the Gemini-owned NFT marketplace that helped ignite the crypto art boom, is officially closing after nearly a decade of operation.

The platform has now moved into withdrawal-only mode and is scheduled to fully shut down on February 23, 2026. However, this end date also underlines the broader nft market collapse that has already claimed several digital art venues.

The once-prominent venue, among the earliest curated NFT marketplaces, confirmed it will cease operations next month. Moreover, it joins a growing list of nft platform closures that have emerged during the sector’s prolonged downturn.

The marketplace now only allows users to retrieve their assets ahead of the final cutoff on Feb. 23. That said, an announcement from Gemini, which acquired Nifty Gateway in 2019, said the wind-down will let the U.S.-based crypto exchange “sharpen its focus and execute on the vision of building a one-stop super app for customers,” while still supporting NFTs via the Gemini Wallet.

User withdrawals and artist warnings

In practice, the shift means collectors must withdraw NFT assets from the platform before the deadline to avoid complications. However, the company has indicated that the withdrawal system may take time to process.

Crypto artist XCOPY, one of the best-known creators from the early NFT era, urged users not to delay. “You need to withdraw any art you have on Nifty Gateway,” XCOPY wrote on X. “It’s a slow process, don’t leave it late!” Moreover, this public warning highlights continued friction for users dealing with custodial marketplaces.

Gemini’s statement emphasized that customers can continue to custody NFTs using its wallet infrastructure, even after the marketplace itself disappears. However, the end of trading on Nifty Gateway marks a decisive change in strategy for the gemini nft marketplace business.

From early acquisition to NFT boom icon

Gemini acquired Nifty Gateway in November 2019 as its first-ever corporate acquisition. The deal notably united two sets of identical twins: founders Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster and Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

At the time, Tyler Winklevoss argued that non-fungible tokens would “play a major role in the next era of the digital economy.” Moreover, the timing proved prescient as NFT interest surged in the following years.

The platform soon became synonymous with the NFT art boom that climaxed in 2021. In February 2021, artist Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, sold a piece on Nifty Gateway for $6.6 million, setting a then-record for digital art sold on a marketplace.

That milestone preceded Beeple’s landmark $69.3 million auction at Christie’s weeks later, which thrust NFTs into mainstream culture. Moreover, Nifty Gateway hosted highly publicized drops from celebrities including Eminem, Grimes and The Weeknd during the mania phase.

Custodial model and shifting market dynamics

Nifty Gateway differentiated itself with a custodial model that relied on the platform to hold users’ assets and enabled credit card purchases. This design lowered the barrier to entry for non-crypto-native collectors and, at its peak, helped accelerate adoption.

However, the same approach proved a vulnerability as market preferences shifted. Collectors gravitated toward avatar-based collections and decentralized platforms such as OpenSea and later Blur, which allowed users to control their own wallets and trade across multiple chains.

The founders Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster exited in January 2023, stepping down from leadership amid a turbulent period for parent company Gemini. Moreover, the exchange was then contending with fallout from its lending partner Genesis Global Capital and that firm’s collapse.

Following their departure, the marketplace was rebranded as Nifty Gateway Studio, and its Discord channels were shut down in late 2024. That said, the project continued operating on a reduced scale until the current closure announcement.

NFT marketplace closures accelerate

The nifty gateway shutdown is part of a wider nft marketplace closure trend that has swept across the industry since trading volumes began to fall from 2022 peaks.

Kraken shuttered its own NFT marketplace in February 2025, exiting a business it had launched during the bull market. Moreover, LG Electronics closed its LG Art Lab after three years in June 2025, retreating from a high-profile experiment in TV-based digital art.

Platform X2Y2 announced its closure in March 2025, citing a 90% collapse in activity from peak levels. This sequence of exits underscores the scale of the nft trading volume decline and the difficulty of running sustainable marketplaces once speculative demand evaporates.

Even OpenSea, once the clear market leader, pivoted to multi-chain crypto trading in October 2025 after its NFT-focused business model unraveled. However, the company has kept some NFT functionality, reflecting a bet that the asset class may stabilize at a smaller scale.

Data reveals depth of the downturn

On-chain and market data illustrate how severe the digital collectible slump has become. According to CryptoSlam, NFT trading volume fell to $1.25 billion in Q4 2025, a 28% drop from the previous quarter.

Moreover, December 2025 alone recorded just $303 million in NFT sales, highlighting how far activity has fallen from the frenzy of 2021 and early 2022. The contraction has forced marketplaces to cut costs, reduce incentives and, in many cases, shut down entirely.

Data from The Block Research shows total annualized NFT volume for 2025 at roughly $5.5 billion. That figure is only a fraction of the more than $50 billion the market reached at its 2022 peak. However, some builders still argue that a leaner market could foster more sustainable experimentation in the long term.

When asked for additional detail on the decision, a Gemini spokesperson directed The Block to the previously published statement and declined to expand. The exchange has not disclosed user metrics or revenue figures for Nifty Gateway in recent quarters.

In summary, Nifty Gateway’s closure marks the end of a defining chapter in NFT history, encapsulating the sector’s dramatic rise, crowded competition and equally sharp contraction as speculative interest faded.