Solana NFT Marketplace Formfunction will close on March 29
On Wednesday March 15, Solana became non-fungible token marketplace Formfunction announced it had taken the decision to shut down. According to the announcement, the platform will remain functional until Wednesday, March 29, and users will be able to keep and re-list their digital collectibles even after the shutdown.
Formfunction ends on March 29
On March 15, Solana NFT marketplace Formfunction announced that it has made the decision to shut down in two weeks on March 29. Without giving the exact reasoning for the decision, the platform stated that it was a difficult choice that was the result of “careful consideration”. Formfunction also expressed their pride in the work they have done since opening in early 2022:
We’re proud of what we’ve built to help creators make a living, and we’re grateful for the support and love we’ve found in this community. To all the creators and collectors who have used Fofu over the past year – you’re the ones who really made our platform shine.
Formfunction has also released a tool to help creators export their creations more easily. Despite the closure, everyone will be able to keep their non-fungible tokens and relist them on other platforms if they choose, but the marketplace said it would be most convenient for users to remove them before March 29.
In the blog post accompanying the announcement, Formfunction expressed their gratitude to the community, stating that they remain excited about the future of the ecosystem, despite the decision to shut down.
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Prominent NFT projects shut down despite a 2023 resurgence for digital collectibles
Just days before Formfunction, Meta also announced the end of their digital collectibles project. The social media giant entered the NFT sphere in May 2022 on Instagram and in June 2022 on Facebook. Like today’s announcement, Meta did not provide an exact explanation for their sudden decision to end support for digital collectibles.
The social media giant and Formfunction’s decisions come at a time when non-fungible tokens are witnessing a resurgence after what looked like an extinction event during the “crypto winter” of the previous year. The return to popularity of NFTs is driven at least to some extent by the recent rise of aggregators such as Blur, which even managed to eclipse OpenSea shortly after the launch of its long-awaited token.
While some platforms are abandoning digital collectibles, others are just beginning to enter the space. Amazon, for example, is expected to officially announce its NFT and web3 gaming initiative next month, while another legacy company, Walmart, registered digital assets-related trademarks in late January.
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About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
