MakersPlace, a long-established NFT marketplace focused on art, suddenly announced its immediate closure, ending its 6-year history.
Brady Evan Walker, content manager at MakersPlace, revealed in a statement: “Despite our existing runway, under these market conditions we anticipate significant challenges in securing further investment, which will make it difficult or even impossible to achieve our goal of championing digital art. , maintain operations and deliver meaningful returns to shareholders.
On the evening of January 16, MakersPlace announced that it would “cease operations” immediately, prohibiting NFT minting, token import, and new account creation. Existing NFT artworks will continue to be put on sale, but MakersPlace will not host new exhibitions (whether online or offline). All unused funds will be returned to investors, and MakersPlace revealed that all employees will receive “fair severance packages.”
Source: MakersPlaceWhat is Maker Square?
MakersPlace is an Ethereum-based, art-focused NFT marketplace first launched in 2018.
Throughout its history, MakersPlace has become one of the premier platforms for premium NFT artwork. Big names in traditional art, digital art and entertainment have exhibited on the platform, including artists such as Banksy, Hackatao and Vakseen. The NFT market has also attracted a number of big-name investors, including Pantera Capital, Coinbase, Sony and rap legend Eminem.
The announcement of an immediate closure comes as a shock, as MakersPlace has been very active and ostensibly operating normally over the past few months. In recent months, they have announced a series of updates to the MakersPlace concierge service, hosted an exhibition at the inaugural Miami Digital Art Fair, and made a large appearance at the 2024 Art Blocks Marfa Weekend.
Source: MakersPlaceWhat do I need to do?
For collectors, there are no active requirements. Since all MakersPlace NFTs are minted on Ethereum, they will remain fully accessible and interactive on secondary NFT markets such as OpenSea.
For artists, they will need to transfer any NFT artwork in the MakersPlace escrow wallet to their own wallet. This can be done manually via the “Send Artwork” feature on MakersPlace, but an update scheduled for February looks to make the process easier. As of the update, art purchases will cease, and NFT transfers are currently scheduled to cease in June 2025.
MakersPlace says their curators will “personally contact artists scheduled to participate in the show” to answer questions and provide support, and their private sales team will “assist major collectors with any queries.”
As heartbreaking as this news is, there is a glimmer of hope for MakersPlace’s future. In a statement, MakersPlace expressed its willingness to “[seek] Opportunities for the sale of company assets” and invites interested parties to contact us.
