Bessie Liu

Founders of Nifty Gateway, the Gemini-owned NFT art marketplace, have publicly announced their departure from Gemini on Wednesday as they prepare for their next venture.



Established by brothers Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster in 2018, Nifty Gateway is designed specifically for NFT art collectors. It was acquired by Gemini in 2019 and later facilitated a <a href="https://twitter.com/niftygateway/status/1338268375156482050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1338268375156482050%7Ctwgr%5E19776f059c96fe5239f78f9687c08763a347ef07%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcryptobriefing.com%2Fdigital-art-auction-raises-record-million%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$3.5 million</a> sale of the “Everydays” collection by artist Mike Winkelmann — otherwise known as Beeple.



Winkelmann later made headlines again after securing a whopping <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$69 million</a> in an auction at Christie&#8217;s, almost single-handedly starting the NFT buzz, which lasted throughout 2021.



Nifty’s initial dominance in the NFT space was quickly overtaken by the launch of NFT projects that focused more on avatar-like jpegs. The market began shifting towards NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea.



Read More: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/your-guide-to-nft-platforms">The Top 8 NFT Marketplaces – Where To Buy NFTs</a>



In a conversation with Blockworks, Duncan Cock Foster said that starting a business inevitably involves making mistakes.



“There are certainly many things I would do differently if I had a chance to do it all over again,” Cock Foster said. “However, I am overall extremely proud of the work we have done.”



NFT trading volumes have dipped significantly over the past year, although <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nft-sales-bounce-back">January has seen a slight rebound</a>. Nifty Gateway is a custodial marketplace, meaning on-chain sales data showing a peak of <a href="https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker/niftygateway" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">20 trades a day</a> over the past week is not an accurate reflection of activity, a spokesperson for Nifty told Blockworks.



&#8220;There were at least 850 sales in the last 24 hours. The majority of our trades on Ethereum happen off chain and aren&#8217;t recorded as on-chain transactions.&#8221;



Parent company Gemini is also going through a tumultuous time as it <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pomerantz-law-firm-announces-the-filing-of-a-class-action-against-gemini-trust-company-llc-and-certain-officers-301729924.html">battles lawsuits</a> from customers of its lending platform, Gemini Earn, following the collapse of crypto lender Genesis, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genesis-in-chapter-11-wont-insulate-silbert-winklevoss-says">filed for bankruptcy</a> last week.&nbsp;



Despite apparent challenges, Cock Foster insists his decision to leave Gemini in the near future was because he and his brother “are entrepreneurs at heart, and we want to get back to entrepreneur-ing.”



“There is no denying that crypto and NFT markets are going through a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nft-floor-prices-lag-bitcoin">tumultuous time right now</a>, and Gemini is no exception. But betting against the Winklevoss twins is a terrible idea,” he said. “They are in the top 0.01% of the world&#8217;s most determined people, and I am confident that Gemini will emerge from this crypto winter stronger than ever before.”



Although Cock Foster is unsure what the next steps will be, he still remains optimistic about the Web3 space and will be keeping a close eye on the NFT market as he looks into his next venture.



“A narrative that I hear from the mainstream tech industry is that crypto isn’t useful for anything. Being deep in the Web3 space, I know from first-hand experience that that isn’t true — every single day I encounter artists whose life has been changed by NFTs,” Cock Foster said.&nbsp;



“Being highly underestimated means that Web3 builders will have a chance to create great things while the rest of the world catches up to the value of this technology.”



Correction, Jan. 27 at 2:15 and 10:50 am ET: The headline and text referred to on-chain records of sales transactions, without factoring in off-chain sales. Added comment from Nifty spokesperson.



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Why Are Nifty Gateway’s Founders Leaving Gemini?

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_6310a80c6f1f7" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Nifty Gateway’s new Shopify-like pilot enables curated digital art storefronts</li>
 <li>“The best way to help artists is to have more curators,&#8221; co-founder Duncan Cock Foster told Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As NFT trade volumes slump across the board, Nifty Gateway, the Gemini-owned NFT art marketplace, hopes to inspire digital art curators to start minting with their own custom storefronts.



Traditional art world curators usually partner with artists to develop career strategies, which often involve securing effective gallery displays to help sell their art.



In a bid to translate that endeavor to the NFT landscape, Nifty Gateway&#8217;s “Publishers” pilot — a beta program — will see 50 curators select a roster of artists and operate their own <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-nfts/">NFT</a> storefronts, in the style of e-commerce giant Shopify.



Publishers can drop first-come first-served releases, one-of-one auctions and open editions, which have no limit on the number of NFTs available in a mint.&nbsp;



Duncan Cock Foster, Nifty Gateway’s co-founder, told Blockworks the “biggest, missing piece” in the NFT space is tooling built specifically for art curators. The digital art space is lacking the so-called “gallery layer” from the traditional art market.&nbsp;



Nifty Gateway already enlists in-house curators to help artists release collections, in contrast to non-curated NFT marketplaces like OpenSea or <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-rarible/">Rarible</a>. The company says it has worked with 400 artists to earn more than $500 million since 2018.



“There’s a limit to the number of artists we can curate. You really have to have a strategy to succeed as an artist,” Cock Foster said. “The best way to help artists is to have more curators.&#8221;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Can NFT curators boost Nifty Gateway volumes?</h3>



Cock Foster expressed that the new Publishers pilot is an attempt to guide a fresh crop of curators — and eventually artists — to increase the amount of people earning a living by selling NFTs full-time.&nbsp;&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png" alt="" class="wp-image-29860" width="212" height="429" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=846 846w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=148 148w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=505 505w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=757 757w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=127 127w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=129 129w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=108 108w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=39 39w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/publishers-store-front.png?w=25 25w" sizes="(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px" /><figcaption>Publishers store-front screenshot. Source: Nifty Gateway</figcaption></figure></div>


This initiative comes at a time when NFT trade volumes have shrunk significantly since their peak earlier this year. 



OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, has seen its dollar-denominated trade volumes plummet to lows not seen in more than a year. Trade volumes topped out on May 1 at $405.7 million, a week which saw daily averages of around $163.7 million, per DappRadar. Now, daily volumes are now averaging less than $11.5 million — representing a drop of more than 90%.



While OpenSea caters to secondary sales, Nifty Gateway is a much smaller platform aiming to service NFT art collectors. Still, Nifty is processing only a dozen trades per day on average, <a href="https://dappradar.com/ethereum/marketplaces/opensea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">compared</a> to OpenSea’s 50,000-plus. The platform notably handled just three NFT sales on Wednesday, together worth $2,800, according to <a href="https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker/niftygateway" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NonFungible.com</a>.



No doubt, stats like these have encouraged Nifty Gateway to strategize, now turning to curators in an effort to attract volume.&nbsp;



Over time, the firm plans to expand its Publishers program to include artists releasing their own works and brands with NFT projects.



Recently, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/you-can-now-buy-nfts-without-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nifty Gateway enabled Mastercard credit card payments</a> for users who prefer to pay in fiat rather than crypto.&nbsp;



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Nifty Gateway Wants NFT Curators to Sell Art with ‘Publishers’ Pilot  

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_620e6f6345b1e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“As institutional players [and] high-net-worth individuals get interested in the [NFT] market, they&#8217;re going to need people who can give them quality advice,” said Co-founder Duncan Cock Foster</li>
 <li>Nifty Gateway will advise clients on matters including onboarding, private sales, off-market acquisitions, collection development and market intelligence</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Museums, funds, family offices, corporations and large brands now all have something in common: the option to join Nifty Gateway’s NFT Advisory Program.&nbsp;



The NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace is launching a new service for institutional clients — those of which are seeking guidance about their collectible crypto investments.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“As institutional players [and] high-net-worth individuals get interested in the market, they&#8217;re going to need people who can give them quality advice,” Duncan Cock Foster, co-founder of Nifty Gateway, told Blockworks.</blockquote>



The program will help clients with onboarding, private sales, off-market acquisitions, market intelligence and insights, along with global support. As of now, it is free of charge.



“If you look at the way that the traditional art market developed, it&#8217;s always been a market that&#8217;s difficult for people to understand,” Cock Foster said. “There&#8217;s a number of different prominent art advisors for the traditional [art] world, so I think that this is an inevitable aspect of NFT development.”



Nifty Gateway, which was co-founded by twin brothers Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, was acquired by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in November 2019.



The marketplace distinguishes itself from competitors OpenSea and LooksRare because Nifty users have the option to purchase their digital collectibles in US dollars instead of solely cryptocurrencies like ether.



“We believe that both real-world and digital collectibles will migrate onto blockchains in the form of [NFTs],” Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, said in a <a href="https://www.gemini.com/blog/gemini-expands-into-non-fungible-tokens-nfts-with-nifty-gateway-%E2%84%A2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> about the acquisition.



Tara Harris, the director of collector services at Nifty Gateway, said that the company also has “a very aggressive hiring plan” to expand its NFT advisory board.



The program, however, isn’t “necessarily an exclusive club” or a “gated community,” Harris said. Rather, the new service is intended to further Nifty Gateway’s mission of onboarding 1 billion people into the nascent NFT space.



“This really is our way of bringing in bigger players to continue to drive growth and access in this marketplace and to scale out that access to more and more people through institutional players,” Harris added. “We&#8217;re really here to provide thoughtful access and a starting point for people.”



Nifty Gateway’s news closely follows Mastercard’s Feb. 15 <a href="https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2022/february/mastercard-expands-consulting-with-practices-dedicated-to-crypto-open-banking-and-esg/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announcement</a>, when the financial services company said it would expand its consulting efforts to “NFT strategy development” for clients.



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