NFTs from the CloneX collection temporarily disappeared from OpenSea and Blur platforms. Instead of visuals, users saw a message indicating a violation of Cloudflare’s terms of service. The issue stemmed from restrictions by the provider, whose basic services are not intended for hosting NFT content.
Later, it became clear that the disruption caused concern among NFT holders and investors, as CloneX is one of the most well-known digital art collections, created by RTFKT studio, owned by Nike.
According to users, Cloudflare restricted access to NFT images due to non-compliance with the terms of its free plan. As a result, the digital artworks became inaccessible for display, even though the tokens themselves continued to exist on the blockchain. This situation exposed a critical issue: Web3 projects’ dependence on centralized hosting services threatens the resilience of even major NFT series.
Backup Plan: Migration to ArWeave
On the technical side, the situation was addressed by Samuel Cardillo, CTO of RTFKT. He announced that the CloneX collection would be migrated to the decentralized storage platform ArWeave, which ensures permanent access to data. At the time of writing, after the migration was completed, image display was restored.
Even if metadata is recorded on-chain, visual availability still depends on third-party providers. This can jeopardize not only perception but also the value of digital assets. Hence, the move to ArWeave is not just a bug fix, but an effort to safeguard the project against similar incidents in the future and reduce reliance on centralized services.
Shutdown of RTFKT’s Web3 Division
An additional factor is the previously announced shutdown of RTFKT’s Web3 division. The company stated it would cease operations in this area by January 2025. In light of this decision, ensuring the preservation and accessibility of the CloneX collection has become especially urgent.
Migrating storage to ArWeave can be seen as a final attempt to ensure access to digital assets after the project’s operations end. At the same time, it remains unclear how ongoing support for the collection will be organized and to what extent Nike is willing to continue participating in the NFT sector.
According to experts, what happened with CloneX could serve as a lesson for the industry. Transitioning to decentralized solutions like ArWeave, IPFS, or Filecoin is becoming not just an ideological choice but a necessity for maintaining NFT project infrastructure resilience.
For CloneX token holders, the incident was a test of trust. The transparency of RTFKT’s actions will determine the community’s continued loyalty. At the same time, other projects may reevaluate their storage strategies to avoid facing similar risks in the future.
This post is for informational purposes only and is not an ad or investment advice. Please do your own research making any decisions.