Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “Nike Faces $5 Million Lawsuit for Shutting Down NFT Platform RTFKT”
Nike is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly "running away" after shutting down its non-fungible token (NFT) platform RTFKT in January.
A group of RTFKT users led by Jagdeep Cheema filed the class-action lawsuit on April 25 in Brooklyn federal court, claiming that Nike attracted investors with sneaker-themed NFTs and then shut down the platform, resulting in "significant losses" for them.
The lawsuit claims that these NFTs are unregistered securities because Nike sold them without registering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lawsuit accuses the company of "using its iconic brand and marketing power to hype, promote, and support the sale of unregistered securities by RTFKT."
The lawsuit states: "The value of Nike NFTs derives from the success of specific promoters and projects—here referring to Nike and its marketing efforts—leading investors to purchase this digital asset with the hope that its value will increase in the future as the project leverages Nike's brand recognition."
The lawsuit seeks $5 million in damages, alleging that Nike violated consumer protection laws and various states' unfair trade and competition laws.
U.S. courts have yet to make a clear ruling on whether NFTs qualify as securities. However, in a letter to the SEC on April 9, the trading platform OpenSea urged regulators to exclude NFTs from federal securities laws, arguing that they do not meet the legal definition of securities.
In the case against Nike, the class-action team stated that the court does not necessarily need to rule on the legal status of NFTs to address the complaint.
In 2021, Nike acquired the NFT company RTFKT Studios, which creates virtual sneakers.
According to the complaint, Nike NFT holders were told that these tokens could be traded peer-to-peer on secondary markets and could be used to complete challenges and tasks for rewards.
Data from OpenSea shows that when Nike's crypto sneaker NFT series first launched on April 18, 2022, the average trading price was 3.5 Ethereum (ETH), approximately $8,000, but by April 21, the trading price had dropped to about 0.009 ETH, roughly $16.
Nike shut down RTFKT in January, and the class-action lawsuit claims this led to significant losses for investors, as "prices plummeted and failed to recover," while they also lost the opportunity to participate in challenges and tasks, which the class-action team believes was a primary reason for purchasing these tokens.
In the first quarter of 2025, the overall NFT market saw a significant decline, with sales dropping 63% year-on-year, from $4.1 billion in the same period of 2024 to $1.5 billion from January to March 2025.
Nike has not immediately responded to requests for comment.
Related: RTFKT's CloneX virtual avatars relaunch after NFT display issues
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