Nike Faces Lawsuit Over NFT Project Shutdown

What This Means for the Future of Digital Assets — and How Companies Can Protect Themselves Through Proper Licensing and Planning

Buyers of NFTs issued by Nike’s affiliated studio RTFKT have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, demanding compensation for losses tied to the shutdown of the project, Reuters reported.

Nike acquired RTFKT in 2021 with the goal of expanding its digital presence. As a division of the corporation, RTFKT launched several NFT collections and “digital sneakers” under its own brand.

In December 2024, against the backdrop of declining interest in non-fungible tokens and metaverse projects, RTFKT announced it would wind down operations by the end of 2025. The team clarified that the issued tokens would remain in circulation even after the project’s closure.

According to Reuters, on April 25, Australian citizen Jagdeep Chima filed a class-action lawsuit against Nike in the federal court of New York. He claims that the closure announcement significantly decreased demand for RTFKT’s NFTs, resulting in material financial damage for token holders.

The plaintiff argues that users would not have purchased NFTs under the same conditions had they known the tokens “would be unregistered securities” and that Nike would “pull the rug out from under them.”

Chima is seeking over $5 million in damages for alleged violations of consumer protection laws in New York, California, Florida, and Oregon.

Previously, more than 19,800 digital avatars from RTFKT’s NFT collection temporarily lost their attached images and videos due to a problem with Cloudflare services, although access to the content was later restored.

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