Nifty gateway Co-Founders explain their reasons for resigning
Duncan and Griffin Cockfoster, the co-founders of NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway, made their resignation from Gemini official on Wednesday as the famous twins get ready to start a new business.
Officials depart amid a problematic period for Gemini
The twins left the company five years after it was founded in June 2019; long before NFTs became a viable market, they sold Nifty Gateway to crypto exchange Gemini. According to Duncan, the twins’ choice to leave the company was motivated by their ambition to launch a new venture.
Their departure occurs as Genesis, a crypto lending company, is having financial difficulties and last week filed for bankruptcy. The exchange wants to recover assets worth $900 million that the lender owes.
SEC vs Gemini
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed accusations against Genesis and Gemini earlier this month, one day after Gemini Earn was discontinued. The complaints allege that the Earn product is unregistered security and that the two businesses broke securities legislation.
When Genesis and Gemini stopped accepting redemptions in November of last year, the two businesses’ joint venture on Genesis Earn, which gave consumers up to 7.4% interest on their crypto holdings, ended.
Certain Nifty Gateway employees were also impacted by the most recent 10% job layoffs at Gemini. On Nifty Gateway’s Discord channel earlier this week, Griffin mentioned that some staff members had been let go due to the challenging business environment. He continued, “These are folks we care about and respect, so these choices are not simple.”
Although the brothers are still determining the precise date of their departure from the firm, Duncan claimed that the twins were to leave the company when Gemini bought it in the past. To facilitate a smooth transition for the industry, Duncan said the two plan to continue serving as consultants.
The co-founder said that he thinks Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini, will be exemplary stewards of markets. He praised the Winklevoss twins as visionaries for spotting NFTs as a developing trend.
Duncan stated that Eddie Ma would take over as technical leader for Nifty Gateway as the Cockfoster twins get ready to transfer the company, and Tara Harris will be in charge of non-technical things. A roadmap for the industry will also be made available in the upcoming weeks, following months of planning.
Standing out from the competition
Nifty Gateway has changed over time to distinguish itself from rivals like OpenSea and Looks Rare. As generative art, like PFP, gained popularity, Nifty Gateway was first created as a market for selected and evolving NFT collectibles.
Nifty Gateway changed from a stand-alone NFT marketplace to an Ethereum NFT aggregator in October of last year. The cost of completing transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, known as “gas costs,” was reduced by up to 70% due to market architecture changes disclosed the following month.
Many people were shocked by the news, and many speculated that it might have something to do with the status of the tech and crypto industries or perhaps Gemini itself, which has been having problems due to a predicament involving one of its lending partners, Genesis Global Capital. However, Duncan asserts that this is untrue and that their choice was not in any way a trick played on Gemini.
