Leading NFT marketplace Kraken says it will be shutting down its NFT trading capabilities in February next year. This follows a disappointing run of performance in NFTs over the last couple of years.
Customers who hold NFTs with Kraken are being offered the Kraken Wallet or other self-custody arrangements. The marketplace has entered withdrawal only mode as of Wednesday this week (27 November). Traders can no longer list, buy, bid or sell NFTs on Kraken.
Kraken is advising traders that they will need to take their NFTs off the platform before the final shutdown date in February. Kraken itself has also been slimming down, cutting 15% of its work force and appointing a new co-CEO.
Kraken is looking to the future however. They have tried to raise USD 100m in support of an IPO, but this raise still looks to be open.
The final deadline to remove NFTs from Kraken is 27 February 2025.
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What’s gone wrong with the NFT marketplace?
There has been a general sense of malaise within the once red hot NFT sector this year and it comes as no surprise that we are starting to see casualties. Major blockchains like Solana and Ethereum have been reporting a steady decline in NFT volumes. June this year was a particular horrific month for NFT trading, with volumes down 50%.
We are still seeing a few NFT bulls like Techreport forecasting continued growth in the NFT market, arguing that we will see an increase in NFT users this year. This seems to fly in the face of reality, with reports of high profile early adopters off-loading their NFTs.
For example, in August, Chain CEO Deepak Thapiyal is believed to have sold the most expensive CryptoPunk NFT at a loss. Billionaire Mark Cuban is also understood to have sold many of his NFTs this year.
There HAS been a surge in sales in October however. this broke trend for the year and saw sales up 18%. Much of the action was on DMarket, which recorded $33m in trading volumes. NFT sales on Bitcoin and Ethereum are down.
