Proof of Attendance Protocol, or POAP, has formally shut down after five years of operation. The Web3 badge project had already paused its services and entered maintenance mode on March 16 this year. Its latest announcement makes the closure final, ending what ABMedia described as a notable chapter in NFT history.
More than 6.7 million badges issued over five years
POAP began at the 2019 ETHDenver Ethereum hackathon. The original idea was to give participants blockchain-verified digital badges that could serve as proof they had attended an event.
When NFTs broke into the mainstream in 2021, POAP gained broad support from users. The team then formed a company around the product and expanded its use across crypto conferences, DAO governance meetings and other community gatherings. Over five years, POAP issued more than 6.7 million digital attendance badges on-chain, becoming one of the more widely used applications in Web3.
Users say personal memories remain preserved on-chain
Hsu Ming-En, author at Blocktrend, wrote on X that records from his wedding and a lifetime membership in his community were stored on-chain through POAP. He said too many memories had been left in POAP and that he has now made a continuation version to preserve them.
$10 million raised, but business model questions remained
ABMedia said POAP completed a $10 million funding round in January 2022. The capital was intended to upgrade the product architecture and address operating challenges including spam.
The report also cited online analysis arguing that the project never solved a core structural problem. Because POAP chose not to issue a native token, it lacked a follow-up revenue source and a durable business model. Without token-related monetization, the team struggled to convert its large user base into sustainable income and could not cover operating costs.
Existing records stay, development focus shifts to Open Collectibles Standard
The team said existing POAP users will not lose their rights, and the 6.7 million badges already minted will remain on the blockchain as permanent records. It also said user support will continue.
What will stop is the issuance of new attendance badges. Going forward, the team plans to focus development on a new project called Open Collectibles Standard, with the goal of carrying over technical experience accumulated under the previous operating model.
A reminder of the economic strain behind NFT-era products
The shutdown points to the financial pressure faced by projects built during the NFT expansion cycle. The report said the ideals behind open, decentralized protocols did not cover the heavy ongoing costs of technology, staffing and salaries. Even with $10 million in early funding, POAP still could not close the gap in its long-term operating model.
The article also mentioned OpenSea, once the leading NFT marketplace, which had at one point been rumored to issue a token. Its co-founder Alex Atallah has since launched OpenRouter, an AI server marketplace. ABMedia said those developments reflect a period of transition, correction and broader reshuffling across the crypto industry.