• message “This content material is restricted.” Pop up on Opensea and Blur
• Samuel Cardillo’s technical lead at RTFKT reported that Clonex has been moved to Arweave for distributed storage
• The NFT itself is saved on the blockchain, however the media concerned usually depends on exterior servers

Each Opensea and Blur report that paintings for Clonex, Nike’s NFT assortment by RTFKT, is at the moment not displayed appropriately. You may be greeted by visiting the Opensea web site. “This content material is restricted. Utilizing CloudFlare’s Fundamental Providers on this method is a violation of the Phrases of Use.” This could possibly be as a result of termination of RTFKT’s Web3 service in January this yr.

Samuel Cardillo, RTFKT’s technical lead, mentioned Clonex has been moved to Arweave for distributed storage and may quickly return to regular.

Why did it occur: centralized storage and RTFKT modifications

This incident factors to the significance of distributed storage within the NFT ecosystem. The NFT itself is saved on the blockchain, however the media concerned usually depends on exterior servers. If these servers change into unavailable, the NFT visible illustration could also be misplaced. This highlights a quite giant vulnerability within the present infrastructure.

Due to this fact, Clonex’s steady migration to a distributed storage resolution like Arweave is crucial to the longevity and reliability of NFTS. Decentralized storage options exist to assist digital belongings stay accessible and intact and keep worth and significance within the digital artwork and collectible market.

Background: What are clonex and rtfkt?

For context, RTFKT (pronounced “Artifact”) launched the Clonex NFT assortment in November 2021, in collaboration with Japanese modern artist Murakami Takashi Murakami. A month later, Nike acquired RTFKT.

The acquisition led to collaborations that bridged the hole between digital and bodily merchandise, together with the launch of the RTFKT X Nike Air Power 1 sneaker, impressed by Clonex Designs.

Every Clonex avatar is a totally outfitted 3D mannequin that permits the proprietor to make use of it in quite a lot of digital platforms and digital environments, whereas granting business IP rights. In different phrases, homeowners can use their avatars for manufacturers, merchandise and different artistic endeavors.

RTFKT faces shutdown plans and potential litigation

Regardless of this well-known historical past, RTFKT introduced plans to abolish the operation by the top of January 2025 within the second half of final yr.
Along with the RTFKT troubles, Rosen’s legislation agency issued a press release in late April 2025 that it was getting ready a category motion lawsuit looking for to get better the losses of traders who bought NIKE NFTs issued by RTFKT in reference to the announcement of the shutdown.