A commentary published by Foresight and written by imToken argues that crypto has entered a period in which project shutdowns need to be discussed as seriously as launches. The piece points to closures or wind-downs across trading venues, DeFi, wallets, NFTs, and infrastructure, citing BitMEX, Satori Finance, Botanix, and POAP as examples of projects that reached an endpoint for very different reasons. Its central argument is that a product can have funding, users, uptime, brand recognition, and even sound technology, yet still fail to build a business model that covers long-term operating costs. The article says that reality has direct implications for ordinary users. Holding assets in a self-custodial wallet solves account control, but not necessarily redeemability or exitability. It contrasts native assets such as ETH with deposit receipts, LP tokens, wrapped assets, and bridged representations like renBTC, where the token in a wallet may only be a claim on something else. Using dYdX v3, Ren Protocol, and network-level shutdown examples, the piece breaks asset control into three layers: control of keys, claim on the underlying asset, and the practical ability to exit when a protocol or network is no longer maintained. Its conclusion is straightforward: users should not tie their ultimate control over assets to the assumption that any one project will operate forever.

POAP, the digital collectible project known for turning event attendance into on-chain badges, is shutting down further development after more than five years. Co-founder Isabel announced the decision on Aug. 3, prompting many early users to reopen their wallets and revisit badges tied to Ethereum conferences, hackathons, community gatherings and major moments such as the Merge. The badges remain visible on-chain, even as the team behind them steps away. The project began as an ERC-721 experiment at ETHDenver in February 2019 and later grew into one of crypto’s most recognizable participation credentials. By March 2020, POAP had appeared at more than 100 events and around 7,000 badges had been claimed. It later expanded into brand campaigns, including activations by Adidas and Estée Lauder, and saw one of its defining moments during Ethereum’s September 2022 Merge celebration, when more than 41,000 people watched the official party and participants placed more than 366,000 pixels on a collaborative canvas. The report argues that POAP’s core tension resembled an earlier Web2 experiment: GetGlue, a check-in and digital sticker platform that also turned user activity into collectible artifacts but failed to build a lasting business. In POAP’s case, on-chain persistence solved the record-retention problem. It did not solve monetization. The same qualities that made POAP meaningful as a free, low-friction record of shared experience also made it difficult to turn into a sustainable company without undermining the product’s original purpose.

Proof of Attendance Protocol, better known as POAP, has formally ended operations after five years, closing a product that became closely tied to the rise of NFT culture. The project had already paused services and entered maintenance mode on March 16 this year, and its latest announcement confirms that the shutdown is final. POAP began at ETHDenver in 2019 as a way to issue blockchain-verified digital badges to prove attendance at events. As NFTs surged in 2021, the product expanded across crypto conferences, DAO governance meetings and community gatherings, eventually issuing more than 6.7 million badges on-chain. According to the project, those previously minted badges will remain as permanent records on the blockchain, and existing user rights will not be affected. The team said it will continue user support but stop issuing new attendance badges. ABMedia reported that the developers will now shift their focus to a new initiative called Open Collectibles Standard. The report also noted that POAP had raised $10 million in January 2022 to upgrade its product architecture and address issues such as spam, but analysis cited in the article said the project struggled to build a lasting business model without a native token.

Larry Engineer, founder of DeFi platform dango, said on X that crypto’s window for creating generational wealth has closed, commenting on the shutdown of POAP. He argued that 99% of the sector’s assumed use cases over the past five years have failed. In his post, he said NFTs, the metaverse, DePIN, SocialFi, GameFi, and DAOs are effectively dead. He added that ENS and POAP, which he had previously viewed as among the most meaningful projects in the space, also appear to be fading. Engineer said only two categories of use cases remain. One is what he described as gambling, including perpetual futures, meme tokens, and prediction markets. The other is stablecoin payments. He also said large Wall Street institutions have already entered the market, leaving limited room for startups. Earlier, Foresight News reported that POAP co-founder and general manager Isabel said on X that the proof-of-attendance protocol will gradually wind down operations after running for more than five years.

Proof of Attendance Protocol, better known as POAP, stopped operating on March 16, 2026 and has entered maintenance mode, according to Techub News citing CryptoBriefing. Over its five-year run, the protocol minted more than 6.7 million digital badges. The service was ended because it lacked a sustainable business model. The report said POAP had raised $10 million in 2022. Even so, the project was unable to build a revenue flywheel because it did not have a native token. The team said it will now shift its focus to building a new open standard for collectibles. Support for existing users will continue. Badges that have already been minted will also remain viewable on-chain. The update outlines both the end of POAP’s active operations and the next step for the team as it moves away from running the protocol as an ongoing service.

POAP founder Isabel said the project will begin winding down after operating for more than five years, bringing an end to a platform that issued millions of digital collectibles across hundreds of communities. According to her statement, POAP worked with global organizations including Coinbase, American Express, Warner Music Group and Bayer, and also saw large-scale adoption during Devcon, where more than 8,000 collectibles were minted in a single week. The project also launched an Airport Rally campaign that allowed collectors around the world to claim POAPs at airports. Isabel said the shutdown reflects the difficulty of building a sustainable business model without compromising the project’s core principles, citing crypto funding cycles, distribution models, fast-changing technical infrastructure and broader market cycles as key pressures. She added that she has not yet decided on her next step, but is now thinking about how go-to-market models for companies may evolve in the AI era.

POAP, a digital collectibles project in the Ethereum ecosystem, will formally stop development after operating for more than five years, according to co-founder Isabel. In her remarks, Isabel said POAP had issued millions of digital items across hundreds of communities over the past several years. She also pointed to collaborations with major organizations including Coinbase, American Express, Warner Music Group, and Bayer. She said the project carries special meaning for many users, but argued that fundraising cycles and distribution models in the crypto industry made it difficult to build a sustainable business without compromising POAP’s original values. Isabel also cited the challenge of building on a fast-changing and relatively fragile technical infrastructure, along with operating through periods of intense market hype, as factors that made long-term development harder.

Proof of Attendance Protocol, or POAP, will wind down after more than five years of operations, according to co-founder and general manager Isabel. In a post on X, she said the project had minted millions of commemorative badges across hundreds of communities and worked with organizations including Coinbase, Amex, Warner Music Group, and Bayer. She also pointed to POAP issuing more than 8,000 badges during a single week at Devcon and running an airport-themed activation. Isabel said the crypto industry’s funding cycles and distribution mechanisms made it difficult for the team to build a sustainable business model without compromising POAP’s original purpose. She added that a fragile and fast-changing underlying tech stack made those problems harder to manage, especially during periods of industry hype. Looking back, she listed three takeaways: customer communities are a company’s most underestimated asset, a sense of connection is the core value of the product, and long-term thinking plus brand building remain the last defensible moat as development and launch cycles keep shrinking. She said she has not decided what comes next and is now thinking about go-to-market approaches in the age of AI.