Paris time, January 5th, the NFT Paris event, which was originally scheduled to be held at the Villette Hall and has accumulated four editions of reputation, announced its cancellation. The 20,000 tickets along with hundreds of sponsor booths suddenly turned to dust overnight. The organizers attributed the decision to a “market crash,” undoubtedly pressing the pause button on the NFT sector and writing a calm New Year’s memo for the Web3 ecosystem in 2026.
(Background recap: Bear market NFT comeback! Fat penguin pulls a sphere in Las Vegas: What phenomena are we seeing?)
(Additional background: Flow has shifted to DeFi, the former top-tier NFT momentum and dilemma)

Table of Contents

• Refund difficulties highlight liquidity limits
• Bitcoin rises, NFTs fall: decoupling intensifies
• After the bubble deflates, where does Web3 go?

The large blockchain event NFT Paris, originally scheduled for January 5th at Villette Hall and with four editions of reputation, suddenly announced its cancellation. The 20,000 tickets and hundreds of sponsor booths vanished overnight.

According to official news, the organizers openly admitted in a statement that they could no longer absorb the cost pressures. The official explanation:

“After four editions… we have to face reality. The market crash has dealt a heavy blow to us. Despite extreme cost-cutting measures over the past few months, we still cannot offset operational costs and sustain the event.”

When ticket sales and corporate booths cannot cover fixed expenses, even long-established summits have to close. The accumulated brand value over four years evaporates instantly, reflecting the collective fragility of the NFT ecosystem.

Refund difficulties highlight liquidity limits

How to handle ticket refunds is the most practical question beyond the cancellation news. The organizers promised that general attendees could get back between $231 and $1,161 within 15 days. However, B2B partners received a “no refunds” notice. Generative artist Serc revealed that the contractual budget disclaimer clause was activated, and sponsorship funds had been used for unrecoverable costs, making refunds impossible.

This is not just a contractual dispute but also exposes the cash flow vacuum in the post-chain industry: when NFT values are halved, peripheral businesses bleed simultaneously, and even high-profile, high-sponsorship events struggle to recover.

As a sponsor, I also received an email mentioning: “According to our agreement, Article 12, the non-refundable costs incurred for this event exceeded the total sponsorship received, so we regret that we cannot provide a refund at this time.” Looking forward to discussing this with you. I have already sent you a message via Telegram to the number mentioned in the email.

Bitcoin rises, NFTs fall: decoupling intensifies

On the same day, mainstream tokens showed very different trends. Bitcoin has maintained an upward trajectory since late 2025, but NFT trading volume has plunged to a freezing point, with total transaction volume shrinking about 95% from the 2021 peak. Blue-chip series like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks hit new lows, indicating that capital is leaving pure speculative assets and shifting toward stores of value or cash-flow-generating targets.

Market divergence is also reflected on the infrastructure side. Once seen as “shovels sellers,” OpenSea has begun to lean toward general aggregation platforms. The platform’s retreat indicates that demand no longer supports the high traffic of the past.

After the bubble deflates, where does Web3 go?

The shutdown of NFT Paris symbolizes the end of the frenzy era but also marks a new watershed for the industry. Capital is now filtering for applications that genuinely intersect with AI, asset tokenization, or physical industries. Relying solely on “community narratives” and “avatar economy” models can no longer attract large budgets.

As for those holding costly JPEGs, they can only realize that the market is always about pricing confidence in the cold wind. The farewell of NFT Paris makes it clear that only aligning with real demand offers a chance to survive the next winter.