Once-dominant NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway is set to wind down for good, underscoring how far the nonfungible token boom has fallen from its 2021 peak.
The Gemini-owned platform will permanently close on February 23, 2026. As of now, Nifty Gateway has already switched to withdrawal-only mode, giving users roughly one month to remove any remaining NFTs or funds before operations cease entirely.
A shutdown banner is currently displayed on the platform’s homepage. Users can withdraw their assets either via a linked Gemini Exchange account or through direct bank transfers processed by Stripe. According to the company, everyone with NFTs, ETH, or US dollar balances will receive detailed instructions by email on how to complete withdrawals. Nifty Gateway is urging customers not to wait until the last moment, as all withdrawals must be finalized before the February deadline.
The closure represents one of the most notable exits among early NFT-native companies. Launched in 2020, Nifty Gateway was instrumental in introducing NFTs to a mainstream audience. At a time when most crypto platforms required users to navigate wallets, private keys, and native tokens, Nifty Gateway stood out by allowing purchases via credit cards and fiat payments. This “web2-style” user experience dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for collectors unfamiliar with blockchain technology.
The marketplace became particularly known for its curated drops from high-profile digital artists and celebrities. Collaborations with creators such as Beeple and Grimes helped catapult NFTs into the cultural spotlight, drawing in not only crypto enthusiasts but also traditional art collectors and entertainment fans. During the height of the NFT frenzy in mid-2021, Nifty Gateway reported more than 300 million dollars in total sales, placing it among the most important venues in the sector.
That explosive growth proved difficult to sustain. As speculative mania around NFTs cooled and trading volumes fell across the industry, Nifty Gateway’s activity declined in tandem. By April 2024, the company had already pulled back from running a traditional open marketplace and rebranded as Nifty Gateway Studio. The new model placed more emphasis on onchain creative projects, custom drops, and brand collaborations rather than pure secondary-market trading.
Now, even that reoriented strategy has come to an end. Gemini, which acquired Nifty Gateway in 2019, framed the shutdown as part of a broader effort to streamline its business. The crypto exchange said that discontinuing the platform will allow it to concentrate resources on building a comprehensive “super app” for customers, while continuing to support NFTs at the infrastructure level via the Gemini Wallet. In other words, Gemini is stepping away from operating a dedicated NFT marketplace but is not abandoning NFT custody and storage.
The announcement also highlights a key shift in the narrative around NFTs. In 2021, platforms like Nifty Gateway were seen as core destinations for digital culture, a place where new forms of ownership and patronage were being experimented with in real time. Today, as prices and volumes have retreated, many of those early players are either pivoting, consolidating, or disappearing altogether.
At the same time, the broader NFT landscape is not uniformly bleak. Elsewhere in the market, there are signs of cautious recovery and strategic repositioning. Earlier this month, Animoca Brands acquired Somo, a company focused on gaming and digital collectibles. The deal will bring Somo’s playable and tradable items into Animoca’s larger blockchain ecosystem, with plans to integrate the platform using shared technical infrastructure and partnership networks. Animoca is framing the acquisition as a way to deepen its footprint in gaming-focused NFTs and interactive assets, rather than pure speculation-driven collectibles.
This move coincided with a short-term rebound across the NFT sector at the start of 2026. In the first two weeks of the year, total NFT market capitalization climbed by roughly 20%, increasing from about 2.5 billion to more than 3 billion dollars. A sharp single-day jump of around 300 million dollars, accompanied by rising trading volumes, suggested that at least some capital and interest are returning to digital collectibles—albeit from a lower base than during the 2021 bubble.
The juxtaposition is striking: as one of the earliest mainstream marketplaces exits the stage, new strategies are emerging around gaming, utility, and integrated ecosystems. Nifty Gateway’s closure is less a sign that NFTs are “dead” and more an indication that the business models of the first wave are being stress-tested in a harsher, post-hype environment.
For existing Nifty Gateway users, the immediate priority is operational, not philosophical. Those with assets on the platform should:
1. Log in and review their account balances, including NFTs, ETH, and any remaining fiat.
2. Confirm that their Gemini account (if linked) and withdrawal details are up to date.
3. Initiate NFT withdrawals to self-custody wallets where they control the private keys, or to other marketplaces they plan to use going forward.
4. Move ETH and fiat balances either to their bank accounts or other exchanges, depending on their needs.
5. Keep an eye on email communications from Nifty Gateway and Gemini, as these will contain step-by-step closing procedures and deadline reminders.
Beyond the practical checklist, the shutdown raises broader questions for artists and collectors about platform risk. Many creators built their early NFT careers around Nifty Gateway’s curated drops, branding, and audience reach. With the platform going offline, those artists will need to think more carefully about diversification—spreading their presence across multiple marketplaces, maintaining their own contract deployments, or developing direct-to-collector channels that rely less on any single intermediary.
Collectors, too, may reassess how they evaluate NFT platforms. Factors such as financial backing, clear long-term business models, and transparent governance are likely to become more important than short-term hype or celebrity-backed drops. The Nifty Gateway case illustrates that even well-funded, widely recognized platforms are not guaranteed permanence.
There is also a technical dimension to consider. While platforms may shut down, the NFTs themselves, if properly deployed on public blockchains, typically continue to exist independently of any marketplace. For users who withdraw their tokens to personal wallets, ownership of the underlying assets should remain intact. However, user experience—discovery, trading, and display—will depend on the ability of other platforms and tools to index and support those collections over time.
For the NFT industry more broadly, Nifty Gateway’s wind-down is a reminder that the sector is still in a shakeout phase. Experiments that thrived in a zero-interest-rate, hyper-speculative environment are being replaced by models that emphasize utility, interoperability, and integration with gaming, media, and loyalty programs. Acquisitions like Animoca’s move for Somo suggest that value is consolidating around ecosystems that can offer sustained engagement, not just one-off drops.
Looking ahead, the likely evolution of NFTs will revolve less around headline-grabbing sales and more around infrastructure and everyday use cases: in-game items with real ownership, tokenized media passes, digital identity artifacts, and onchain records for art and design. The chapter defined by platforms like Nifty Gateway may be closing, but the underlying technology is increasingly being woven into broader digital experiences.
For now, though, the story is as much about endings as transitions. A marketplace that once processed hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and helped introduce NFTs to the mainstream is stepping aside—its rise and fall encapsulating the arc of the first great NFT cycle, from explosive hype, to painful correction, to a quieter phase of rebuilding on new foundations.