Binance draws curtain on digital art era with NFT market shutdown announcement

Binance has announced that it will shut down NFT support on its centralized exchange on July 3, 2026. Any current holders are expected to move their assets to self-custodial wallets or lose access permanently.

NFT trading volumes have crashed from nearly $24 billion in 2022 to roughly $1.2 billion in 2026 so far. Other than Binance, other platforms that traded NFTs, like Nifty Gateway and Kraken NFT, have shut down. 

Binance pulls the plug on NFTs

Binance first closed its dedicated NFT marketplace back in 2023. Now, the exchange is going further by removing NFT support from its main platform entirely. The company says this is an “upgrade” that moves NFT management to Binance Wallet, where users can access “Web3 and decentralized features” more easily. 

But for regular users who kept their NFTs on Binance to avoid dealing with seed phrases and gas fees, they have exactly one month to move their assets or have them become inaccessible.

Non-transferable NFTs like Binance Academy certificates and certain event-based NFTs will become completely inaccessible after the deadline passes. However, Binance says it will issue PDF certificates to users holding non-transferable NFTs that certify course completion.

Binance is offering 1 USDC to up to 100,000 users for completing eligible NFT withdrawals, but only for non-CR7 assets and only before June 17, 2026.

Holders of Cristiano Ronaldo-linked CR7 NFTs are eligible for reimbursement until the 19th of July, but anyone who misses the June 17 cutoff for standard NFTs pays their own gas.

What does the NFT market look like in 2026? 

Annual NFT trading volume reached roughly $23.8 billion in 2022, but in 2024 that figure dropped to about $8.9 billion. Even worse, in 2026, the current trading volume is roughly $1.2 billion. 

The NFT sector has been facing a prolonged downturn that has collapsed prices, leaving the current annual NFT trading volume at around $5.5 billion. 

Binance joins a growing list of platforms that have abandoned NFT operations. Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway, one of the oldest NFT trading platforms, shut down in February 2026 after facilitating over $300 million in sales at its peak during the 2021 digital art era. Kraken NFT and X2Y2 have also closed.

NFT Paris, one of the sector’s marquee conferences, canceled its 2026 edition after four consecutive years, and Cryptopolitan reported that the organizers said the decision was due to the market crash and illiquid conditions.

The cancellation reportedly left over 500,000 euros in sponsor fees unreimbursed, and the core team running the event was said to have left just before the final decision