Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini), a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian, announced that a parent company acquired Nifty Gateway™, a popular platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs, also known as “nifties”) that power the emerging economy of digital collectibles and virtual goods. With this acquisition, Nifty Gateway will now be powered by Gemini’s secure, institutional-grade infrastructure. The move marks the first acquisition by a member of the Gemini group and extends the reach of cryptocurrency into new use cases.
Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini), a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian, announced that a parent company acquired Nifty Gateway™, a popular platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs, also known as “nifties”) that power the emerging economy of digital collectibles and virtual goods. With this acquisition, Nifty Gateway will now be powered by Gemini’s secure, institutional-grade infrastructure. The move marks the first acquisition by a member of the Gemini group and extends the reach of cryptocurrency into new use cases.
Unlike cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, nifties are cryptographic tokens that represent a unique asset or good on the blockchain, are one of a kind, and are not interchangeable. Blockchains can enable gamers to buy and trade interoperable digital collectibles such as skins, dances, and in-game items, helping further fuel a $50 billion-plus annual market1 for virtual goods.
“Non-fungible tokens and the digital goods (and collectibles) they enable will play a major role in the next era of the digital economy. They are the perfect form factor for crypto-collectibles, crypto-art, and much more – laying the foundation for entirely new multi-billion dollar industries to emerge,” said Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini. “As Gemini continues to build the future of money, we will partner with or acquire companies led by entrepreneurs that share our mission and core values. We’re excited to be working with Nifty Gateway to extend the reach of crypto across other concepts and build a bridge between NFT creators and the growing ranks of everyday consumers looking to purchase them.”
Founded in 2018 by brothers Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, Nifty Gateway facilitates nifty purchases for some of today’s most popular crypto-games and applications, including OpenSea, Gods Unchained, and CryptoKitties. With Nifty Gateway, users can purchase NFTs directly with fiat currency using their credit card, like a normal online purchase, making NFTs accessible to anyone.
“Nifties are a fundamentally new type of digital good and are an important tool for ownership as our lives move more and more online,” said Duncan Cock Foster, co-founder of Nifty Gateway. “Gemini’s mission and focus on security and regulation are aligned with our approach to NFTs and digital assets. Working with the market leader in digital asset security is a critical step toward our goal of getting a billion people collecting NFTs.”
Nifty Gateway also gives decentralized application (dApp) and game developers a powerful and intuitive suite of tools that simplifies the process of selling nifties. For dApps and games leveraging Nifty Gateway, NFTs are priced in U.S. dollars. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for interested users because they don’t need to own cryptocurrency to acquire and use NFTs and their associated unique digital assets. Nifty Gateway will remain a separate experience operating within the Gemini family as its own entity.
