Foundation NFT marketplace shut down afta di Blackdove deal fail, promise say dem go pin for IPFS

Ethereum NFT marketplace Foundation go shut down comot after di planned acquisition wey display-tech firm Blackdove wan do collapse. Foundation confirm the matter on April 15, 2026, talk say Blackdove cancel the deal after dem reason say e better make dem build dia own marketplace for dia strategy. Since Foundation start for 2020 dem process about $230M for primary digital art sales, but demand drop after 2021 so liquidity for dat niche, curated NFT marketplace waka go down. The shutdown add to bigger wave of contraction wey dey hit NFT venues. For traders, operational details matter. Foundation CEO Kayvon Tehranian transfer ownership as part of the agreement and come back to oversee correct wind-down when the sale fail. Tehranian stress say NFTs wey dem mint on the Foundation contract still dey on-chain under collectors’ control, even if frontend disappear. The team go continue IPFS pinning of media and metadata for one year and dem dey build unlisting/retrieval tool for items wey still dey listed for the Foundation marketplace smart contract. Notable early sales include Chris Torres’ Nyan Cat (~$600K) and Edward Snowden’s “Stay Free” (2,224 ETH). The Foundation NFT marketplace shutdown fit further show say Ethereum NFT liquidity weak and fit reduce venue-level activity, wey fit weigh on short-term sentiment around ETH NFT exposure but no dey change core ETH on-chain fundamentals.