Formfunction, the one-on-one NFT marketplace based on the Solana blockchain, announced its plans to shut down the platform amid NFT’s trading volume and prices slump. The digital firm announced on March 15, without pointing to the exact reason, that it would be functional till March 29 only. It added that the platform reached this decision after “much discussion and careful consideration.”
Since its inception, Formfunction has suffered the effect of NFT’s low trading volume and declines in floor prices. The price of the SOL token has also decreased widely, currently hovering around $20, compared to its January 2022 price of $100. It represents a fall of around 80% in SOL’s value. The NFT marketplace is closing down 13 months after its launch in February 2022.
Formfunction Introduces A New Tool To Help Creators Transfer NFTs
While announcing its decision to wind up, Formfunction wrote in an official blog post;
We’re proud of what we’ve built towards our mission to help creators make a living, and we’re grateful for the support and love we’ve found in this community. This was an extremely difficult decision; however, after much discussion and careful consideration, we’ve come to the conclusion that we cannot continue to operate Formfunction. To all the creators and collectors who’ve used Formfunction over the past year—you are what really made our platform shine.
As part of its disclosure, the platform is introducing a new tool for NFTs creators to aid them in transferring NFTs from the platform. It would enable NFT creators to list or display their artwork on other NFT marketplaces. Although the digital platform is disabling its services, it still ensures the “complete ownership of your NFTs (that’s the beauty of web3!).”
Daily Unique Buyers For Solana NFTs Reduced By 50%
According to the stats provided by NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam, the number of daily unique buyers for Solana NFTs has also plunged in the last 12 months. The figure currently stands at 5,400, nearly half the average recorded at the start of 2022.
Blue chip NFTs, a type of Non-fungible token known for stability in its value, also dropped more than 75% in dollar terms since February 2022 started, data from the Solana NFT data aggregator SolanaFloor shows.
The head of community and marketing at Formfunction, known by the pseudonym of Magellan◎, tweeted on March 15 to comment on the disclosure. He highlighted that the co-founders and the team pivoted to a “new direction” that will likely be out of the SOL and crypto industry.
Recently, the firm raised $4.7 million in a funding round that started immediately after its launch. Variant Fund led the seed round, and other venture capital firms that participated are Canonical Crypto, Solana Ventures, OpenSea Ventures, Palm Tree Crew Crypto, and Pear VC.
Although Formfunction decided to step out, new industry players are entering the NFT space on the other hand. Amazon is one of the latest examples of it launching its NFTs next month to support its web3 gaming initiative.