Gemini-Owned Nifty Gateway to Shut Down NFT Marketplace in February 2026
Nifty Gateway, probably the most recognizable platforms to emerge from the NFT increase, has introduced it can formally shut down its market on February 23, 2026.
Gemini acquired Nifty Gateway in 2019. The Winklevoss-led alternate 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.
Nifty Gateway Enters Withdrawal-Only Mode Immediately
Effective instantly, the platform has entered “withdrawal-only mode,” urging customers to withdraw funds and digital belongings earlier than the closure.
Nifty Gateway Studio shared the information, confirming that no additional buying and selling or new exercise will happen on the platform.
“Today, we’re saying that the Nifty Gateway platform will probably be closing on February 23, 2026. Starting right this moment, Nifty Gateway is in withdrawal-only mode,” the corporate said.
It added that clients holding USD, ETH, or NFTs would obtain e-mail directions on how to transfer their belongings off the platform.
Launched around 2020, Nifty Gateway rapidly turned a family identify through the early NFT wave. It distinguishes itself by way of curated digital artwork drops and a user-friendly method 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 had been rapidly coming into mainstream tradition.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini alternate’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 through the 2021 NFT increase, Nifty Gateway hosted dozens of high-profile creator and model collaborations. It helped legitimize digital artwork and collectibles as a brand new asset class.
However, as NFT trading volumes collapsed in subsequent years and consumer curiosity waned, the platform struggled to regain traction. This is regardless of broader trade makes an attempt to reframe NFTs round utility, gaming, and real-world assets. 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.
Besides Nifty Gateway, one other participant that exited the scene just lately was Nike, solely years after changing into the world’s highest-earning brand from NFT sales.
RTFKT, acquired by Nike in 2021, additionally shut down Web3 operations in January 2025 due to the NFT market’s sharp decline.
Therefore, this marks one other high-profile retreat from the once-red-hot NFT sector, which has struggled to regain momentum since its 2021 peak.
While Gemini has continued to expand its regulated crypto services globally, Nifty Gateway’s closure means that even well-capitalized, early movers have discovered it troublesome to maintain NFT-specific companies in the present market surroundings.
What Next for Nifty Gateway Studio?
Notably, the most recent improvement comes solely weeks after Nifty Gateway Studio marketed open intern slots, doubtless indicating curiosity in new expertise or a shift towards cost-consciousness.
Therefore, 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.
NGS was positioned as a full-service digital manufacturing studio targeted on immersive, on-chain inventive experiences. It partnered with artists, manufacturers, and creators on experimental NFT-based content material.
Projects ranged from limited-edition collectibles to interactive drops mixing AI, artwork, and blockchain-based possession.
While carefully tied to the unique market, it stays unclear whether or not Nifty Gateway Studio will:
- Continue working independently
- Evolve below Gemini’s broader technique, or
- Be wound down alongside the platform itself.
The firm didn’t present particular steering on the studio’s future in its announcement, and neither did it instantly reply to BeInCrypto’s request for remark.
“Incredibly unhappy information. Very happy with what NG completed 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,” said Duncan Cock Foster, ex-co-founder of Nifty Gateway Studio.
For customers, the instant precedence is asset withdrawal. Nifty Gateway emphasised that clients should transfer all funds and NFTs earlier than the February 23, 2026, deadline. Afterwards, the platform will stop operations solely.
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