Nifty Gateway, some of the recognizable platforms to emerge from the NFT growth, has introduced it should formally shut down its market on February 23, 2026.
Gemini acquired Nifty Gateway in 2019. The Winklevoss-led trade additionally offered the regulatory, custody, and safety infrastructure that underpinned each the NFT market and its later evolution into Nifty Gateway Studio as a Gemini-backed Web3 inventive arm.
Efficient instantly, the platform has entered “withdrawal-only mode,” urging customers to withdraw funds and digital property earlier than the closure.
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Nifty Gateway Studio shared the information, confirming that no additional buying and selling or new exercise will happen on the platform.
“Right this moment, we’re saying that the Nifty Gateway platform can be closing on February 23, 2026. Beginning in the present day, Nifty Gateway is in withdrawal-only mode,” the corporate mentioned.
It added that prospects holding USD, ETH, or NFTs would obtain e-mail directions on the best way to transfer their property off the platform.
Launched round 2020, Nifty Gateway shortly grew to become a family title throughout the early NFT wave. It distinguishes itself by curated digital artwork drops and a user-friendly strategy that permits purchases by way of bank cards and fiat currencies.
This accessibility helped onboard a broader, non-crypto-native viewers at a time when NFTs have been shortly coming into mainstream tradition.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini trade’s founders, acquired the platform in 2019. This positioned it as a flagship NFT market backed by exchange-grade custody and compliance infrastructure.
At its peak throughout the 2021 NFT growth, Nifty Gateway hosted dozens of high-profile creator and model collaborations. It helped legitimize digital artwork and collectibles as a brand new asset class.
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Nevertheless, as NFT buying and selling volumes collapsed in subsequent years and consumer curiosity waned, the platform struggled to regain traction. That is regardless of broader business makes an attempt to reframe NFTs round utility, gaming, and real-world property. The community additionally suffered a hack in 2021 that compromised a number of accounts.
NFT Market Unwind Raises Questions Over Nifty Gateway Studio’s Future
The shutdown displays the longer unwind of the NFT market, which has seen a number of marketplaces both shut, consolidate, or pivot away from pure NFT buying and selling fashions.
Apart from Nifty Gateway, one other participant that exited the scene lately was Nike, solely years after turning into the world’s highest-earning model from NFT gross sales.
RTFKT, acquired by Nike in 2021, additionally shut down Web3 operations in January 2025 as a result of NFT market’s sharp decline.
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Subsequently, this marks one other high-profile retreat from the once-red-hot NFT sector, which has struggled to regain momentum since its 2021 peak.
Whereas Gemini has continued to develop its regulated crypto companies globally, Nifty Gateway’s closure means that even well-capitalized, early movers have discovered it tough to maintain NFT-specific companies within the present market setting.
What Subsequent for Nifty Gateway Studio?
Notably, the most recent improvement comes solely weeks after Nifty Gateway Studio marketed open intern slots, seemingly indicating curiosity in new expertise or a shift towards cost-consciousness.
Subsequently, one open query following the announcement is the way forward for Nifty Gateway Studio (NGS), the corporate’s Web3 inventive arm, which was formally launched in 2024.
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NGS was positioned as a full-service digital manufacturing studio centered on immersive, on-chain inventive experiences. It partnered with artists, manufacturers, and creators on experimental NFT-based content material.
Initiatives ranged from limited-edition collectibles to interactive drops mixing AI, artwork, and blockchain-based possession.
Whereas carefully tied to the unique market, it stays unclear whether or not Nifty Gateway Studio will:
- Proceed working independently
- Evolve below Gemini’s broader technique, or
- Be wound down alongside the platform itself.
The corporate didn’t present particular steerage on the studio’s future in its announcement, and neither did it instantly reply to BeInCrypto’s request for remark.
“Extremely unhappy information. Very happy with what NG achieved and the work that everybody did. In my time operating NG with Griffin Cock Foster, we paid out over $500 million to artists. In 2021, it was ~1/8 of the cash YouTube paid to creators in 2021. The NFT motion will proceed,” mentioned Duncan Cock Foster, ex-co-founder of Nifty Gateway Studio.
For customers, the speedy precedence is asset withdrawal. Nifty Gateway emphasised that prospects should transfer all funds and NFTs earlier than the February 23, 2026, deadline. Afterwards, the platform will stop operations totally.