Nike faces class action lawsuit over RTFKT NFT project shutdown
Date: 2025-04-28 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
Users who purchased NFTs created by the RTFKT studio have filed a class action lawsuit against Nike, demanding compensation for losses incurred due to the project's closure, Reuters reports.
Recall that in 2021, Nike acquired the RTFKT studio in order to strengthen its digital presence. Already as part of the corporation, the studio released a number of NFT collections, including "digital sneakers" under the RTFKT brand.
However, in December 2024, amid declining interest in non-fungible tokens and metaverses, RTFKT announced plans to cease operations by the end of 2025. At the same time, the company assured that all previously issued tokens will remain available to owners.
As Reuters clarifies, the class action lawsuit was filed on April 25 in federal court in New York by Australian Jagdeep Cheema. The statement states that the announcement of the closure of RTFKT sharply reduced demand for the tokens associated with it, which led to financial losses among their holders.
The plaintiffs claim that if buyers had known about the risks in advance, they would not have purchased the NFTs on the terms that were offered. The lawsuit also states that the tokens can be classified as unregistered securities, and the plaintiffs regard Nike's actions as "pulling the rug out from under the feet" of users.
The amount of the lawsuit exceeds $5 million. It includes claims for compensation for violation of consumer protection laws in states such as New York, California, Florida and Oregon.
It is worth noting that earlier, more than 19,800 digital avatars from RTFKT collections temporarily lost their images and videos due to problems with the Cloudflare service. However, the problem was quickly resolved and access to the content was restored.
