Clone-X NFTs Soar 200% as Nike Sells RTFKT

Four years after Nike announced a surprise acquisition of digital apparel brand RTFKT, the largest sports apparel company in the world has sold the non-fungible token (NFT) studio, sending its flagship Clone-X collection soaring.

The move comes a little over a year after RTFKT announced that it would be shutting down operations, resulting in the Clone-X NFT collection tumbling to as low as 0.07 ETH, a 99.7% drop from its all-time high of 24 ETH during the NFT bull run in 2022.

However, Clone-X is back up to a 0.3 ETH floor on the sale news, a 200% jump over the last 24 hours.

The Oregonian, a newspaper based in Nike’s native Oregon, broke the news and said that “The company last month quietly sold RTFKT, pronounced 'Artifact.'”

Neither the buyer nor the acquisition price has been disclosed, but Nike told The Oregonian that the sale was effective as of Dec. 16, and Samuel Cardillo, RTFKT’s former Chief Technology Officer (CTO), took to X to tease his involvement with the move.

Cardillo quoted the announcement and said “the story shall continue,” and when a community member asked if he would play a future role, Cardillo replied “you shall see. But…did I ever stop being part of the story?”

Today’s statements notwithstanding, Cardillo has posted on multiple occasions that he is no longer affiliated with RTFKT, having left his position in April 2025.

Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/nfts-and-web3/clone-x-nfts-soar-200-as-nike-sells-rtfkt