rewrite this title Nike Faces $5 Million Lawsuit Over RTFKT NFT Shutdown – Metaverseplanet.net

Nike, which previously acquired the NFT platform RTFKT, is now facing a $5 million lawsuit. Buyers of the digital assets accuse Nike of committing a rug pull, a type of crypto fraud where project creators abandon a venture after driving up the asset value, leaving investors with worthless tokens.

Last year, Nike announced its plan to shut down RTFKT’s operations. Following this move, a group led by Jagdeep Cheema filed a lawsuit against the company. The plaintiffs claim that they would not have purchased the NFTs if they had known they were unregistered securities.

In the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York, Nike is accused of violating consumer protection laws in New York, California, Florida, and Oregon. The group seeks over $5 million in damages, citing significant losses after Nike promoted sneaker-themed NFTs to attract investors, only to shut down the platform shortly afterward.

Nike initially entered the NFT market by acquiring RTFKT in 2021. However, after the venture failed to meet expectations, Nike decided to exit the space. In December, Nike announced via its RTFKT X account that it planned to fully terminate RTFKT’s activities by the end of January. Currently, the platform appears to be operated by a single individual, Samuel Cardillo, who recently commented on the sudden disappearance and reappearance of artwork related to the CloneX NFT project.

According to reports, Nike’s NFT collection was initially sold for an average of 3.5 Ether (approximately $8,000 at the time) when first listed on April 18, 2022. However, by April 21, 2025, OpenSea data shows that the same NFTs are trading for about 0.009 Ether, roughly $16 — a staggering decline in value.

This case unfolds amid a broader market trend. The NFT market witnessed a sharp downturn in the first quarter of 2025. Global NFT sales dropped by 63%, falling from $4.1 billion in Q1 2024 to $1.5 billion in the January-March period of 2025.

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