Nike has officially yeeted its RTFKT stake to an unknown buyer, according to multiple reports. A Nike spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that the handoff went down on December 17, ushering in a “new chapter” for the company and its community—though what that chapter contains remains a mystery.
The Oregonian broke the news first. Nike stayed silent on the price and the buyer’s identity, and RTFKT’s website and social feeds haven’t exactly flooded the timeline with “we’re still breathing” updates.
RTFKT—pronounced “artifact”—surfaced in 2020 amid the NFT gold rush and got scooped up by Nike roughly a year later for an undisclosed sum. It now sits at #9 among top NFT projects by lifetime earnings, having hauled in over $49 million from token drops and royalties, per DeFi Llama.
Nike grabbed the startup under former CEO John Donahoe, who was laser-focused on direct-to-consumer and digital growth. Donahoe’s tenure often gets meme-d as the “era that made Nike uncool.” His successor, Elliott Hill, is steering the Swoosh back toward physical retail, including Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker.
