Nike quietly sold the Web3 sneaker brand RTFKT in December. Oregon Live reported this week that Nike quietly sold RTFKT last month, ridding itself of the dead weight and exiting the NFT space entirely. While Nike is done with the NFT space, the brand will continue to work in the digital space, most notably by bringing real-life shoes into video games like NBA 2K with .SWOOSH. As of now, no details have been announced about the RTFKT sale, with the buyer and purchase price still under wraps.
Nike dove into the NFT game in 2021 with the acquisition of RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”), The Swoosh was riding the same non-fungible wave as the rest of the world. Nike’s addition of the blockchain-based sneaker brand to its portfolio fueled pandemic-era Web3 speculation to new heights, mixing digital and physical assets with ultra-limited releases. At the time, it seemed like the perfect synergy of an evolving internet and exploding sneaker market. Turns out that wasn’t really the case.
After a couple of years of inflated JPEG prices, the NFT industry went up in smoke like so many precariously-backed asset classes before it, leaving plenty of pulled rugs in its wake. At Nike, RTFKT business slowed, and eventually, at the end of 2024, the digital darling announced it would cease operations altogether in early 2025. The move away from RTFKT came as Nike CEO Elliot Hill continues to push the brand back into the sportswear and retail space, a decided shift from previous CEO John Donahoe’s obsession with tech-led direct sales. In place of the non-fungible sneakers, Nike’s recent interactions with the digital space have been through the .SWOOSH imprint, bringing a truly creative approach to the intersection of sneaker and gamer culture, with drops like the “Touching Grass” slides and the “Rage Quit” Total 90s.
Nike has filed a motion to dismiss that lawsuit, but no further decision has been made at this time. With the new owner looking towards RTFKT’s future, Nike is still in the process of dealing with a lawsuit from investors who claim that ceasing operations of the digital sneaker brand in early 2025 constituted a rug pull, killing the value of the existing NFTs. In Nike’s half-century in the sneaker industry, there have been plenty of shoes, marketing tactics, and activations that flopped, and this is looking like another one for the list. As for the NFT market altogether, well, put another nail in the non-fungible coffin.
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