RTFKT, a digital fashion and technology company that was acquired by Nike in 2021, is shutting down.

“Today we’re announcing the plan to wind down RTFKT operations,” the company said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Looking back we’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved together.” 

The company (pronounced “artifact”), which burst onto the digital collectible scene in 2021 selling $10,000 sneakers on Nifty Gateway, built a sprawling ecosystem of Ethereum-based NFTs and physical collectibles over the years, partnering with artists like Takashi Murakami along the way.

In December 2021, it was acquired by Nike for an undisclosed sum, a move which former Nike CEO and President John Donahoe highlighted as a step to accelerate “Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming and culture.”

Nike and RTFKT worked on a number of shoe collections together, even finding the foot of NBA superstar LeBron James amid the league playoffs in 2023.

But ultimately, declining prices for its NFT collections—most notably Clone X, its flagship profile picture (PFP) set—and broader disinterest in NFTs followed, ultimately resulting in the closure announced Monday.

Back in March, crypto influencer Nick O’Neill shared a rumor on X that Nike would shut down RTFKT in 2024, to which pseudonymous RTFKT co-founder Zaptio responded, “Seems like we missed the memo on our shutdown.”.  

Nike gave further hints to the rumor in September 2024 when it left the RTFKT logo out of its brand lineup in a press release detailing Donahoe’s agreement to retire from his position as Nike President and CEO. Donahoe led the sneaker giant at the time of the RTFKT acquisition. 

Some in the Web3 community have offered to revive the RTFKT brand, sending pleas on X with offers of more than $100,000 for a chance at a “Luca Netz moment.” It’s a nod to the takeover Netz had with Pudgy Penguins, an NFT collection that was plummeting before his purchase in 2022 and has since gone on to become a leading Web3-enabled brand for toys and more.

Nike will maintain a presence in Web3 with its virtual creations platform, .Swoosh which it first launched in November 2022 via Ethereum scaling network Polygon.

Representatives for Nike did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment on how .Swoosh would be impacted by the discontinuation of RTFKT, but a recent blog post from the platform indicates it “won’t be launching any more NFT collections for now.”

Prior to ending its operations, RTFKT is planning to launch a final project this December: the MNLTH X featuring the Blade Drop. No official details about the project have been provided.

“RTKFT isn’t ending,” the firm wrote. “It’s becoming what it was always meant to be—an artifact of cultural revolution.”

Clone X saw increased trading volume on the news, but the average sale price declined by more than 44% according to data from NFT Price Floor. The collection registered an all-time high floor price of more than $63,000 in 2022, but now the NFTs start at less than $1,000 worth of ETH on secondary marketplaces.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Portal attracted a lot of attention earlier this year following its massive PORTAL token launch—which is the fifth-largest gaming token launch of 2024—and its airdrop. Now, several months later, the crypto gaming project is launching its wallet and game discovery hub.

While the crypto gaming space has continually grown and evolved, it still has lingering issues and roadblocks to mainstream adoption—two of which Portal believes it’s addressing. First, games are spread across a plethora of networks, with what feels like a new layer-2 gaming network appearing every month or so.

That’s why Portal Wallet supports 20 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, including prominent gaming chains like Immutable, Ronin, and Xai as well as the likes of Ethereum itself and general-purpose scaling networks like Arbitrum and Base. This wallet aims to help smooth over interoperability issues between chains.

However, maybe the most pressing issue of game discovery is being addressed through the Portal Hub. Crypto games have faced onboarding issues, including a ban from leading PC gaming marketplace Steam on NFT and crypto games. The Portal Hub aims to pull together games into a single starting point for players.

“I think Web3 in general has this problem of: there are a lot of things to find and there are a lot of things that are hidden,” Portal General Manager Ezra Strauss told Decrypt. “One from a trust perspective—like there are problems around what you can trust in Web3 because of security issues—and then there’s just general quality issues.”

Crypto gaming is rife with low-quality games, simply looking to extract money out of users. The Portal Hub seeks to reduce the risk players run into these kinds of titles. On launch, over 200 games will be featured and promoted to users through a combination of data and team curation—including a section of recommended picks from the team.

But there is a long-term vision that puts community at the center of the Hub, Strauss said.

“Today it’s sort of like: Let’s take what the best games are from our community feedback,” he said. “But ultimately, what we’re working towards is […] this community driven-content discovery, where users are incentivized to hold PORTAL and engage with the community in other ways, in order to drive what discovery looks like and what’s discoverable on the platform.”

The PORTAL token launched on Ethereum in February of this year with significant hype behind it. With that, the token skyrocketed to a $561.6 million market cap, in one of the biggest launches of the year.

At the time of writing, according to CoinGecko, PORTAL has since fallen to a market cap of about $70 million, echoing the path of many gaming tokens that peaked early this year.

While no timeline has been set, the team confirmed that it is actively working towards this goal of token holders having a say in curation. That said, there is no requirement to hold PORTAL to use the discovery platform, nor do featured games need to be compatible with the wallet. 

“At release, [hub] games won’t have the wallet integrated,” Strauss confirmed. “But what we’re really excited about is there are already a couple of partners that are really interested in this. And I think we’ll have the first few wallet integrations pretty soon.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Gaming Chronicles focuses on curating the latest web3 gaming news, every week.

You will find the latest news, educational content, and game reviews.

Arbitrum, a gaming ecosystem with titles such as King of Destiny, Seraph, Pirate Nation, and Mighty Action Heroes, brings this newsletter.

Today, we want to highlight Kryptomon, as the World of Kogaea is going multichain, with Arbitrum as its first stop. WoK brings the adventure, and Arbitrum powers the action.

• Last week Mythical Games, the makers of NFL Rivals, announced they are launching a new game called FIFA Rivals in the Summer of 2025

  • FIFA Rivals will be an officially licensed mobile football game, with arcade-like gameplay – a similar approach to how they broke into the NFL games scene

  • Gameplay elements include: creating and managing your own football club, building and enhancing your lineups, and playing in real-time PvP matches

• FIFA-licensed games have been around for a long time under the well-known FIFA series, developed by EA

  • EA Sports and FIFA ended their licensing agreement at the end of 2022, as FIFA reportedly increased its asking price for the license

  • In terms of mobile success, EA released a title called EA SPORTS FC Mobile Football (I believe it got rebranded after the agreement ended)

    • The game also falls in the non-simulation category, with arcade-like gameplay

    • Over the years the title accumulated 500M downloads and still brings in multiple millions in IAPs according to SensorTower data

• It makes sense for FIFA to capture such a big market, as they currently have little exposure to the mobile vertical

  • Furthermore, elements such as loot boxes and trading are very much ingrained in football games, think about the success of FIFA Ultimate Team

  • So, it will be interesting to see if Mythical Games can break open this market with a fairer (P2P) trading model and Web3 ownership

• Last Thursday KGeN announced they raised $10M in an ecosystem round led by Aptos, with backing from Game7 and Polygon at a $500M val

• What’s KGeN?

  • A decentralized game network that gives players control over their digital identities, aiming to create “a new paradigm for game publishing – one that’s not just profitable, but fundamentally fairer“

    • Achieved through enhancing data capabilities, building stronger partnerships with studios, and improving gaming reward systems

  • Through Web3 KGeN is building a network of micro-gaming communities in emerging markets, such as India, Brazil, Nigeria, SEA, and MENA

    • So far they have acquired over 10M users (mainly from India) across its products and the company is profitable with an annualized revenue of $12M (without a live token)

    • The company monetizes through different products, including their loyalty and eSports protocols and “Proof of Gamer Engine”

  • In November 2023, KGeN launched an initiative of a $5-6M grant to support gaming studios in their transition to Web3

• Lastly, KGeN was formally known as IndiGG (the guild)

• Avalanche9000 is now live on the Fuji Testnet with up to $40M in grants

  • The retroactive grant platform also included $2M for referrals

    • By inviting developers to the program you receive points, which translate to grants, builder credits, airdrops, and more (more like a B2B thing)

  • Part of this program is the Avalanche Etna Upgrade, which will make launching an L1 99.9% cheaper than before, slash the average fee on the C-Chain by 96%, and establish interoperability within different blockchains

• How it works:

  • Companies can submit their project on the Retro9000 website if they’re eligible, users vote on the projects, and the projects get ranked on a public leaderboard

  • Your voting power is determined by the “Chill Factor”, which is based on your transaction history on Avalanche

• The goal of this program by Avalanche is to lower the barrier to experimenting with the blockchain. Allowing more developers to enter, more games to come to Avalanche, and more opportunities for virality

Join our telegram chat for daily updates & alpha as well: https://t.me/raidenalpha

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The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

FIFA Rivals: Mythical Games, a blockchain gaming studio, is teaming up with sports organization FIFA to create a new mobile arcade-style soccer game called FIFA Rivals. Set for launch in summer 2025 on iOS and Android, the free-to-play title will allow players to build and manage their own soccer clubs while competing against others in real-time matches. 

Mythical Games is the studio behind NFL Rivals, another licensed free-to-play mobile sports game that is built around optional NFTs. FIFA Rivals will similarly utilize the Mythos chain and let players collect and trade professional soccer stars, both past and present.

MemeFi airdrop: Telegram tap-to-earn game MemeFi launched its token on Friday via the Sui network. Alongside the token launch, the project airdropped tokens to eligible players, both through centralized exchange OKX and on-chain claims with funds going directly into self-custodial wallets.

Like most Telegram game airdrops so far, the MEMEFI token is already down substantially from its opening price, with CoinGecko showing a nearly 50% dip at a current price of $0.0057. Whether it can rebound may depend on the future plans for the game and ecosystem.

Pac-Man NFTs: Flickplay, an NFT interactive character platform, has teamed with Bandai Namco Entertainment—one of its investors—to launch a Pokémon Go-style scavenger hunt to celebrate the 45th anniversary of classic arcade game, Pac-Man.

Set to debut in February 2025, the partnership will begin with the release of two series of exclusive Pac-Man digital collectible “toys.” The first of which will only be available to those within Shibuya, the Japanese neighborhood where Pac-Man was first seen in the 1980s, in a Pokémon Go-style scavenger hunt. The second collection will be available globally via the Flickplay store.

ICYMI

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Valour, a subsidiary of fintech company DeFi Technologies (DEFTF), has launched the market’s first Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) exchange-traded product (ETP), which will trade on Sweden’s Spotlight Stock Market. This innovation allows investors to trade the popular meme coin like a stock, as global interest in Dogecoin continues to be driven by Elon Musk. DOGE prices are rising today, suggesting the market is responding positively to the launch of the new Dogecoin ETP.

What’s Happening with Dogecoin Today?

Dogecoin prices dipped over the past few days but have started rising again today. This renewed momentum is likely due, at least in part, to the new ETP, which will make DOGE accessible to new investors who may not have considered purchasing the meme coin before. Despite the recent dip, Dogecoin has surged significantly over the past three months, climbing 290% as Elon Musk’s influence continues to drive interest.

Dogecoin has significantly benefited from Donald Trump’s decision to task Musk with leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has kept the crypto’s symbol prominently in focus on the national stage. Additionally, Musk recently proposed a “Dogecoin fix” for what he perceives as crisis spending in the U.S. The Tesla (TSLA) CEO has been a vocal advocate for the crypto for years. With his political influence growing, more investors are likely viewing it as a valid investment vehicle.

The launch of the Dogecoin ETP is noteworthy, as it provides investors with a new incentive to purchase DOGE. Since an ETP can be traded like a stock, it may appeal to traders who distrust crypto exchange platforms such as Coinbase (COIN). With interest in Dogecoin steadily rising, the timing seems ideal for a new avenue to gain exposure, particularly for investors outside the United States.

Is It Time to Buy Dogecoin?

Since no Wall Street analysts follow Dogecoin, it is hard to properly assess which rating it deserves based on expert opinions. That said, the TipRanks Technical Analysis tool suggests a Buy signal on the one-day timeframe, based on overall bullish sentiment.

Solana decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter will revise its airdrop plan after a governance proposal did not reach a 70% supermajority, which would have led to $1.6 billion worth JUP being airdropped to users of its platforms across multiple waves.

Earlier this week, a Jupiter DAO proposal penned by pseudonymous Jupiter co-founder Meow went live for voting, letting token holders determine whether Jupiter would airdrop up to $1.6 billion in JUP across two separate airdrops apparently planned for subsequent Januarys ahead.

The proposal, which received more than 364 million in JUP voting power, only received 58% in votes in favor of disbursing the tokens to users.

“Because we are looking for a 70% supermajority, we will be proceeding with a second vote,” Meow said on X (formerly known as Twitter). “While this uncertainty is definitely tiring, and weighing down on sentiment, it is also crucial to remember that if we do unify behind a plan—we will emerge far stronger.” 

Now Meow and Jupiter will go back to the drawing board, first reviewing the feedback from dissenting voters and then addressing those concerns in a new proposal, which is expected to go up for vote next week. 

“I think the idea to ‘Grow the Pie’ with Jupuary is great. I would blindly vote ‘yes’ if the quantity was different,” said user Juanortuzar.sol on the proposal’s forum.

The JUP quantity—1.4 billion tokens in total—and other factors may need to be modified for Meow and team to get the additional support they need to earn a passing proposal. 

JUP, the Jupiter ecosystem’s native token, is up nearly 4% on the day and trading at $1.15.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Ethereum’s DeFi sector is experiencing a revival, fueled by renewed market enthusiasm following Donald Trump’s election victory.

The total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem has surged past $80 billion, marking its highest level in over two years.

These numbers come as key players like Aave and Uniswap have also achieved significant milestones during this bullish wave. Their rising activity highlights the increasing appeal of DeFi solutions as investors and users flock to platforms that offer innovative financial tools and opportunities.

Record volume

Uniswap has set a new record for monthly trading volume on Ethereum layer-2 networks, reaching $38 billion in November — a 50% jump from October’s $20.32 billion.

Data from Dune Analytics reveals that Arbitrum contributed the lion’s share with $19.5 billion. It is followed by Base with $9.19 billion and Polygon at $4.33 billion.

In a Nov. 27 social media post, Uniswap Labs, the development team behind the platform, stated:

“Onchain history is being made. New all-time high for monthly L2 volume on the Uniswap Protocol.”

Meanwhile, this achievement coincides with a significant rise in the price of Uniswap’s native UNI token. According to CryptoSlate’s data, the digital asset was up 10% over the last 24 hours, pushing its price to $12.84.

Adding to the excitement, Uniswap announced a $15.5 million bug bounty program, the largest in DeFi’s history, to secure its upcoming v4 protocol. The platform said:

“Over 500 researchers [had] participated in a $2.35 million security competition, and no critical vulnerabilities were found. As deployment approaches, we’re taking an extra step to ensure v4 is as secure as possible with the $15.5 million bug bounty.”

Aave hits new highs

Aave, the largest DeFi lending platform, has also reached a historic milestone.

According to DeFiLlama, deposits on the platform have surged to $33 billion, representing a 230% increase since the start of the year.

If Aave were a US bank, this figure places Aave among the top 1.4% in deposits, surpassing notable institutions like SoFi.

Stani Kulechov, Aave’s founder and CEO, highlighted this progress as the start of a financial revolution driven by decentralized platforms.

Meanwhile, the platform’s growth is also reflected in the performance of its native token, AAVE, which has climbed 112% in 2024. According to CryptoSlate’s data, the token recently hit a yearly high of $210 before settling at $200 as of press time.

Mentioned in this article

Cega Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol specializing in structured investments and exotic options, has announced its acquisition by an undisclosed “leading platform.”

Launched in June 2022 on Solana and later expanding to Ethereum and Arbitrum, Cega was the first to introduce exotic options to the DeFi ecosystem. Unlike standard options, exotic options allow for tailored strategies with additional conditions, enabling more customized financial solutions. Over its three-year tenure, Cega processed over $500 million in transaction volume and maintained an impeccable record of user fund security, according to Cega’s website.

In March 2023, Cega raised $5 million in funding at a valuation exceeding $60 million. Despite the acquisition, the identity of the acquiring platform and financial terms remain undisclosed. Cega emphasized that the move aligns with its mission to advance the evolution of DeFi derivatives, and that its new owner will “continue driving this vision forward.”

With the acquisition, Cega said that its product suite would sunset by the end of 2024, assuring users that withdrawal operations would continue seamlessly and directing inquiries to its Discord community.

Cega co-founder and CEO Arisa Toyosaki expressed optimism about the transition, stating that while the protocol in its current form is ending, its mission to push the boundaries of DeFi derivatives lives on. “You may see us popping back up somewhere else,” Toyosaki said.

Toyosaki was recently featured on an episode of Blockhead’s weekly podcast, Blockcast, discussing building accessible, lower-risk structured products for retail investors and Japan’s evolving crypto landscape.

Immutable (IMX) has officially launched the GG: Survivor Quest, a new survival-action shooter game developed by OVERTAKE. This game marks a significant milestone as it becomes the first to be launched directly on Telegram via the Immutable Passport, enhancing accessibility and integration for players, as reported by immutable.com.

Experience OVERTAKE GameFest Rewards

The debut of GG: Survivor coincides with the introduction of OVERTAKE’s GameFest rewards program. This initiative promises a comprehensive roadmap of incentives across upcoming titles such as Somnis: Rumble Rush, an RTS game set in a dreamscape universe, and The Red One: Occultation, a high-stakes extraction shooter.

GameFest introduces multi-phase rewards that include Proof of Participation (POP) badges and leaderboard competitions, designed to enrich the player experience. Players can also engage with a unique gacha system, offering chances to win rare in-game items, NFTs, and additional rewards.

How to Play and Earn

Players can dive into the action on the Immutable platform before the quest concludes on December 20, 2023, at 00:00 UTC. Participation involves visiting the GG: Survivor on Immutable, engaging in intense gameplay, and completing in-game objectives to earn Immutable Gems and other rewards.

1. Visit the Game: Access GG: Survivor on Immutable and start playing.
2. Compete and Collect: Engage in gameplay to fend off waves of monsters and gather resources.
3. Earn Rewards: Complete challenges to earn rewards.

Join the Action Today

With GG: Survivor, players are invited to rise as the ultimate Guardian. This game sets a dynamic precedent for the future of web3 gaming, offering a glimpse into the immersive experiences that Immutable aims to deliver.

Image source: Shutterstock

Altcoins like Ethereum (ETH) and Avalanche (AVAX) have been moving upward following the ongoing bullish trend in the crypto market. As of the time of writing, the ETH price has surged by over 8% in the last 24 hours, while the AVAX price is up by over 7% within the same period. The increased interest in both altcoins comes after a general bullish trend in the market. 

However, Lunex, a new crypto, has been attracting ETH and AVAX whales with its decentralized finance (DeFi) cross-chain platform. The Lunex project is currently on presale, raising nearly $3 million. Is it a decent alternative to Ethereum and Avalanche? Let’s find out. 

Ethereum reaches $3.4K after an increase in DApp volumes 

The ETH price crossed the $3,400 mark in the early hours of November 22, surging by over 8% compared to the previous day. Many attribute the price growth to the broader trend in the crypto market, especially after Bitcoin crossed $99K for the first time during the same period.  However, some recent developments in the Ethereum ecosystem could also be singled out as an influence. 

For context, the Ethereum decentralized app (DApp) volumes increased by 38% in the past month, showing developers’ focus on making the Ethereum blockchain their go-to platform for building. Similarly, ETH dominated its competitors in terms of fees, staking rewards, and total value locked (TVL). However, with Solana constantly on its heels, Ethereum is set to face a strong challenge that could hinder its price growth. 

AVAX reaches $36: Aims for double-digit growth

AVAX is a popular Ethereum competitor, and just like the second-largest cryptocurrency, the AVAX price has been experiencing positive movements in the market. The momentum has seen the Avalanche price move up to around $36, up by around 7% in the last 24 hours. 

There’s a realistic AVAX price prediction of $40 at the end of the year and a subsequent rise to over $120 in the first quarter of 2025. However, Avalanche faces a strong challenge from competing blockchains like Solana, which has its meme coins soaring and its developer network growing. 

Lunex shows utility leads the way for crypto projects 

The development of ETH and AVAX over the years has shown that utility tokens remain some of the best investment opportunities in the crypto market. These tokens tend to increase in value as their associated projects develop. 

That’s why a new crypto project like Lunex is causing FOMO among investors. The DeFi token powers the Lunex ecosystem, comprising a decentralized exchange for seamless cross-chain transactions. With support for over 50,000 digital assets, the platform boasts a robust system to facilitate fast asset transfers. Moreover, its reward program sets it apart from similar DeFi platforms – thanks to its revenue-sharing model that rewards users with a portion of its profits. This creates a source of passive income for the network users and token holders. They can also earn cashback rewards for every trade completed on the platform. 

With these features and massive potential, it’s no surprise that the Lunex presale is on fire. Notably, the LNEX token is selling at a discounted rate of $0.0031 to give early investors a low barrier to entry. Interested investors can lock in some tokens before an inevitable price increase. 

You can find more information about Lunex Network (LNEX) here:

Website: https://lunexnetwork.com

Socials: https://linktr.ee/lunexnetwork