Nike-owned NFT Wearables Startup RTFKT is Winding Down (theblock.co) 18
RTFKT, the NFT project most known for its attempt at making "digital shoes" a thing, is shutting down, according to a statement on Monday. From a report: The project, acquired by athletic wear juggernaut Nike in 2021 for an undisclosed sum, plans to fully unwind by the end of January, though its Ethereum-based tokens will remain accessible.
Launched in 2020 amid the beginnings of the mania around NFTs and the metaverse, RTFKT quickly garnered a reputation as a fast-moving startup. It spun up "drops" with brands, including Nike, and collaborated with the likes of sneaker designer Jeff Staple and Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
Launched in 2020 amid the beginnings of the mania around NFTs and the metaverse, RTFKT quickly garnered a reputation as a fast-moving startup. It spun up "drops" with brands, including Nike, and collaborated with the likes of sneaker designer Jeff Staple and Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
It was a tax scam (Score:5, Interesting)
The way it worked was rich people bought an "art" piece for $1m, suddenly that meant there was a market for said art piece and therefore it was worth $3m, you then donate said art piece to a "foundation" and write $3m off on your taxes. At top of tax bracket this saves you about $1.5m on your taxes, so a net gain of $500k for basically no work.
The IRS closed that loophole, and those rich ***holes thought they'd maneuver NFTs through it. The IRS said "It's still art guys, so no you can't do that either" and as soon as they did the NFT market collapsed.
Re:It was a tax scam (Score:5, Interesting)
It's more likely that most of it was just wash trading to pump Ethereum. I.e. someone mints an NFT, puts it on a marketplace, and then buys it from himself. List it for sale again, rinse and repeat. This creates the appearance that there's actually a demand for these things and people not in on the scam start buying up Ethereum in order to mint their own NFTs.
It all collapsed once people realized there's no real buyers, which might make the whole thing seem rather pointless except that minting a NFT actually burns Ethereum. The conversion into a NFT is a one-way process. So, NFTs were ultimately just an elaborate scheme to create deflationary pressure on Ethereum and reward the HODLers. Considering that one ETH is currently trading at $3.6K, the scheme seems to have worked.
Re: (Score:2)
They'd be bought by different people, but they were all collaborating on Discord (or others). All are told in advance that a new batch of NFTs are showing up, they'd bid it up to a large amount by the time other people got involved and then sold the essentially useless beanie babies. Then rinse and repeat. Then they tell themselves this is all legal, even though if this were stocks or bonds it would violated many laws. Another reason why everyone whines so loudly that this is "new" stuff and not like ol
Re: (Score:1)
from what I was told, there was a related but different way to do some shady business. :)
basically if I want to pay someone, I would buy an expensive NFT from them, claim that as a digital asset, then claim that it depreciated, and the loss reduces my taxable income. so it's a win-win.
there's no way this was going to last.
Luckily my ugly monkeys are still worth billions (Score:2)
So glad I spend my life savings on a bunch of NFT of pictures of ugly monkeys of which I don't even own the actual picture.
I guess a QR code of the NFT above my couch will do.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't even own the actual picture. I guess a QR code of the NFT above my couch will do.
I have a copy of your picture if you need it.
GTFKT (Score:1)
Get fukt!
A what what shoe? (Score:2)
Back in my day, ghetto boys would shoot a man dead over plain old analog Nike shoes. None of this nft horseshit the kids are jabbering on about these days.
Re: A what what shoe? (Score:3)
You see? A pair of digital shoes would save you from being killed. It has a value after all.
Re: (Score:2)
I saw ghetto boys shooting some malware at a bank account just to get some NFT shoes. It was a tragedy.
"Mania"? (Score:2)
For sufficiently loose definitions of "mania", I guess...
What does the KT stand for? (Score:2)
Read The Fscking what?
Re: (Score:3)
The letters RTFKT were chosen to suggest the word "artifact". Not the worst choice for the name of an idea, but not the most inspired either.
Re: (Score:1)
The letters RTFKT were chosen to suggest the word "artifact".
Oh, really? Because my first thought was "rat-fucked". :-)
Goodbye NFT shoes, hello AI shoes (Score:1)
Forget NFTs. Get yourself some AI shoes like the cool kids!
Re: (Score:2)
"Hello, it looks like you're tryng to walk. Do you need some help?"
NFT Wearables? (Score:2)
I didn't know I could wear my bored apes.
Good it failed (Score:3)