- High Hopes, Sudden Descent: Recur, the once sought-after NFT platform hosting major brands, is on the verge of shutting down.
- Lofty Valuations: At its pinnacle, Recur boasted a $333 million valuation, backed by influential investors like Steve Cohen and Gary Vaynerchuk.
The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Recur: Navigating the NFT Ice Age
In a startling revelation last Friday, Recur, an NFT trailblazer, announced it’s drawing its operations to a close. This news is particularly shocking given that Recur, not long ago, hosted intellectual properties of giants like Hello Kitty and Nickelodeon.
A Fading Digital Canvas
Despite being on the cusp of the NFT revolution and launching promising ventures like the “jet-setting NFT experience” with Hello Kitty, Recur could not insulate itself from the crypto winter’s icy grip. Just a year after expressing “unprecedented demand” for its TV Packs, which included profile-picture (PFP) NFTs showcasing beloved characters such as Tommy Pickles from “Rugrats”, Recur has admitted to disabling pack openings come November.
Conceived in 2021, Recur positioned itself as a Web3 juggernaut, offering businesses the essential building blocks in this space. Their platform promised a suite of features from creating in-game assets and digital collectibles to loyalty programs, all underpinned by the NFT paradigm.
However, Recur is not the sole entity in the NFT domain facing headwinds. A similar tale echoes from Nifty’s, a once-prominent social network pivoted towards Web3 creation, which also declared its shut down despite partnerships with high-profile media titles.
Out of the 380,000+ NFTs minted on Recur, the company is charting plans to keep the digital legacies alive. As part of their transition, they intend to migrate their NFTs’ metadata and media to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) – a decentralized file-sharing network developed by Protocol Labs. Additional assets will find their abode in Filecoin’s ecosystem.
Highlighting the volatility in the NFT space, Recur’s trajectory is a testament. In December 2021, they introduced the Recur Pass, an NFT priced at $300. This pass, which granted early bird access to future NFT drops, made headlines when it changed hands for a staggering $88,888 the following February. However, the same pass’s valuation has plummeted to a mere 0.001 ETH, or roughly $1.69, today.
Recur’s impressive $333 million valuation in late 2021 was spurred by a $50 million Series A funding spearheaded by Digital, an investment fund aligned with Steve Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund magnate. The lineup of early backers also featured NFT maestro Gary Vaynerchuk, the Winklevoss twins, and Ethereum’s co-founder Joe Lubin, showcasing Recur’s initial promise in the tumultuous world of NFTs.
