Once seen as a model for mainstream blockchain adoption, the project failed to maintain user interest and has become another casualty amid the broader downturn in the NFT sector.
DeFi studio Pink Brains CEO Ignas was among the first to report the shutdown. According to him, Reddit managed to attract millions of users to NFTs without even calling them that.
“Most users didn’t know their avatars ran on the Polygon network. Now, however, the NFTs will remain only as static profile images – the token functionality and wallet support will be disabled,” he said.
Community Blames Management
Many users on X described Reddit’s decision as a “predictable failure.” According to community member Crypp, the team ignored communities’ feedback. Ignas added that the management “wasn’t crypto-native” and “kept releasing new collections without selling out the old ones.”
User hughey recalled that the early NFT series included rare verified account badges that generated huge excitement, but the appeal faded after Reddit started mass-producing collections, losing the sense of uniqueness.
Some participants believe the concept itself wasn’t flawed. User Left Curve (il/lui) noted that NFT avatars were never meant for speculation but rather for personalization. In his view, greed and the focus on price growth undermined the project’s sustainability.
“I feel bad for people who treated these avatars as investments,” he wrote.
Early Signs of Decline
The first signs of the project’s potential closure appeared in early 2025, when RCA head Bianca Wyler left the company.
“My role at Reddit has come to an end. While I’m sad about this change, I’m proud of what we achieved,” she wrote at the time.
After peaking in late 2022, NFT avatar sales plummeted. During the last three months of 2024, secondary market volume fell below $100 K per month – significantly lower than in previous periods.
NFT Market Faces Widespread Shutdowns
Reddit’s decision reflects the broader decline across the digital art market. In September 2025, auction house Christie’s disbanded its NFT division. Earlier in the year, SolSniper – one of Solana’s oldest NFT marketplaces – shut down operations. This was followed by NFT divisions closing at X2Y2 and Reservoir in the spring, while Kraken, RTFKT, and LG Art Lab had already abandoned similar initiatives.
Analysts estimate that NFT market activity has dropped by over 95,000% compared to its 2021–2022 peak. Trading volumes remain minimal, while major players have shifted focus to gaming tokens, meme coins, and infrastructure projects.
According to Coinmarketcap, NFT market capitalization fell 33,3% last month, and total sales volume dropped by 83%.
