Key Takeaways
- The company pointed to unforeseen challenges and shifts in the business landscape that have made it increasingly difficult for them to maintain the level of service they have always strived for.
- Recur intends to transfer all NFT media and related metadata to the InterPlanetary File System by November 22, 2023
NFT startup Recur has announced the gradual shutdown of its Web3 platform, citing the challenges posed by the crypto winter and a shifting business landscape. Despite hosting the intellectual properties of well-known brands such as Hello Kitty and Nickelodeon, the platform has been unable to weather the current market conditions.
In a blog post released on Friday, Recur detailed its plans for winding down the platform over the coming months. Users will progressively lose access to core features, including withdrawing NFTs, cashing out stablecoin balances, and trading collectibles on Recur-hosted marketplaces.
The decision to discontinue the platform, announced on August 18, was described by Recur as a difficult one. The company pointed to unforeseen challenges and shifts in the business landscape that have made it increasingly difficult for them to maintain the level of service they have always strived for.
To ensure the preservation of user data, Recur intends to transfer all NFT media and related metadata to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) by November 22, 2023. This decentralized storage protocol will allow data to be continuously retrievable even after Recur’s platform ceases operations, with assets hosted on the Filecoin decentralized storage network.
For users concerned about their balances, Recur is offering the ability to cash out using the USDC feature on portal.recur.com until the specified date. Balances, including top-ups, can be withdrawn starting August 31. Recur has also advised NFT owners on its platform to transfer their assets to self-custodial wallets before November 16, noting that transfers across different blockchains will no longer be possible.
The announcement by Recur reflects the recent challenges faced by companies in the NFT space, as the popularity of digital collectibles experiences a downturn. Despite its ambitious partnerships, such as with Hello Kitty and Friends, Recur’s plans were ultimately curtailed just over a year after their launch.
The shutdown of Recur’s platform follows a similar move by Nifty’s, a social network turned Web3 creators portal, which also announced its closure recently. These developments highlight the evolving landscape of the NFT sector and the challenges faced by companies aiming to navigate its complexities. With a substantial number of NFTs minted through Recur—over 380,000—the company aims to ensure the continuity of various digital collectibles through its planned transitions.
Recur has affirmed its commitment to maintaining user data integrity by migrating metadata and media to IPFS, a peer-to-peer file-sharing network developed by Protocol Labs, while utilizing Filecoin’s network to host other assets.
