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Nifty Gateway, which was plagued with reports of user issues, is the latest marketplace to call it quits amid a protracted NFT slump.
In March 2020, Duncan Cock Foster, who co-founded the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway with his twin brother Griffin, predicted that “in ten years, everyone will be commissioning artists to create nifties to give away at a dinner party.” Let’s hope the Cock Fosters (that’s their real name) don’t pursue a second career in meteorology or air traffic control, because it’s 2026 and Nifty Gateway is officially over.
The platform is shutting down on February 23, according to an announcement from Gemini, the cryptocurrency company owned by fellow twin tech bros Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. (Winkle. Cock. Are you following this?) The Winklevoss siblings acquired Nifty Gateway in November 2019 after a string of business failures; previously, the pair was best known for winning a $65 million settlement with Mark Zuckerberg, whom they accused of stealing their idea for Facebook. Taking money away from Zuckerberg is a respectable hustle.
The same could not be said about Nifty Gateway. Though the entire cryptosphere is one giant grift, the soon-to-be-defunct marketplace that allowed users to pay for NFTs with a credit or debit card was infamously riddled with problems. There were reports of hacking and of buyers defaulting on payments for artworks they won on the platform, among other alleged issues. One collector sued the company after being asked to pay $650,000 for a second edition of a Beeple NFT, having lost out on the more desirable first edition.
At the height of NFT speculation in 2021, Nifty Gateway reported $300 million in gross merchandise value, buoyed by high-profile transactions such as the $17 million sale of a collection by Pak in collaboration with Sotheby’s. But things quickly went downhill, as trading in blockchain-backed collectibles plummeted by billions of dollars in what many commentators characterized as the bursting of the NFT bubble. By 2023, 95% of NFTs were basically worthless, according to a report by the crypto gambling analysis website dappGambl. The prolonged downturn in NFT trading volumes brought a wave of closures, with companies like Kraken and Bybit slashing their NFT marketplaces.
In its announcement, Gemini did not specify a reason for shuttering Nifty Gateway, stating only that the decision “will allow Gemini to sharpen its focus and execute on the vision of building a one-stop super app for customers,” which is the language that wealthy, power-hungry men use to communicate defeat.
As is typical when such a thing happens, it is the people — the artists and creators, in this case — who suffer the most. Nifty Gateway has now entered “withdrawal-only mode,” initially giving users a month to move assets out of their account, then extending that period to three months after backlash. But even the winding-down process has come into question. One user who goes by @digitalartchick said on X that Nifty Gateway suggested taking screenshots of their NFTs to salvage them, adding, “Not a serious industry.”
Meanwhile, things appear to be going swimmingly for the Winklevoss twins. Just days ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to drop a longstanding lawsuit against Gemini. The brothers just so happen to be big Trump supporters who backed his re-election campaign. They even helped fund Trump’s demolition of the East Wing to make way for his notorious new ballroom. Do you see where I’m going with this?
All that’s left to say is goodbye and good riddance, Nifty Gateway! We hardly knew ye. I guess we’ll have to find something else to do at dinner parties — trade bars of gold, perhaps?
