After the announcement of the closure of Gemini’s Nifty Platform in february 2026, we now have the social NFT marketplace Rodeo announcing their closure amid waning demand for non-fungible tokens.
Rodeo, a web3-based social network and marketplace, was founded in 2024. It was launched as a social sketchbook and later transformed into a social-media-based NFT collecting platform, where creators are rewarded for trading NFTs.
Rodeo CEO and co-founder Kayvon Tehranian said in an X post on Tuesday that the platform had struggled to scale enough to become sustainable.
“While the product resonated deeply with a committed community, it didn’t grow to the scale required for the platform to be sustainable long-term. Because of that, continuing to operate Rodeo is not possible,” his post said.
Rodeo’s storytelling touching hearts
Rodeo didn’t abandon their users; they made sure to return the favors to the users who helped them build the experience by outlining plans moving forward.
The platform provided a personalized send-off experience, a walkway through everything the user built and sold on the platform, and what achievements they received as a part of their community.
They also ensured the long-term preservation of their users’ works by migrating their media and metadata to Arweave – a network like Bitcoin but for data. They also provide an assistant to ensure the smooth migration from Rodeo.
Kavyon ended his post with resilience: “Rodeo the product won’t continue—but what was created on it will. That’s the power of building in Web3. Work can outlive platforms. Culture can persist beyond products.”
According to the report, Rodeo will continue to function as usual between January 27 and February 10. However, from February 10, the platform will switch to read-only mode. By March 10, Rodeo will prepare for a complete shutdown.
The users commented with great optimism, reflecting respect for the platforms’ sense of responsibility and even gratitude for providing their creativity a place.
Achievements of the Rodeo core team
The core team behind the platform was best known for launching the ‘Foundation’ in 2020 – a specialized NFT marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Kavyon stated that the project started out as an experiment, attempting to see if artists can be seen and supported in a fundamental way.
Over its lifetime, the Foundation facilitated more than $230 million in primary sales for artists around the world, a space that witnessed the all-time-high NFT sales for artists like Jen Stark, James Jean, and Reuben Wu.
Their collaboration with artist Molly Soda marked a shift witnessing the idea of ‘value’ move from ‘physical objects’ to the creation of the first digital file with genuine, intrinsic value. This also molded Foundation into a digital art platform, where creators sold their works as NFTs.
Amidst the growing competition, the platform stood its ground. Which then led to the early ideas of Rodeo, built over the vision of collecting. The product was made live on the iOS App Store, and users didn’t need to directly deal with wallets, tokens, or blockchain mechanics.
Instead of focusing on likes or reposts, users can ‘collect‘ an edition of a creator’s post for $0.25 within a 24-hour window. Once this period expires, it becomes digitally scarce and is sold to collectors.
Next big move: transitioning to Blackdove
Kavyon also made another announcement this week. Revealed on Tuesday, he said the ownership of the NFT artist platform and gallery foundation is being transferred to the digital art platform Blackdove.
“Preservation has always been central to how I think about the Foundation,” he stated. “There should never be a single point of failure in web3. That principle matters, and we’re committed to living it.”
As the platform moves through a juncture, they have been working to make Web3 safer for users.
