Recent technical issues led to the abrupt disappearance of over 19,000 images associated with the Clone X NFT collection for several hours. This incident provoked significant discussion surrounding the validity and permanence of NFTs, which are digital assets relying on specific technological infrastructures.

Background on Clone X

The Clone X collection was created through a collaboration with renowned artist Takashi Murakami, under the ownership of RTFKT, a company acquired by Nike in 2021. Following Nike’s withdrawal from NFTs, Samuel Cardillo, RTFKT’s chief technology officer, attempted to migrate the NFT assets to a new hosting solution. In doing so, the project encountered hiccups that led to the fleeting unavailability of the NFTs that had previously commanded high prices in the marketplace.

The incident serves as a reminder of the underlying technological dependencies that digital art faces, where ownership and access can be undermined by server reliability. Despite these setbacks, it was reported that the images were restored within a few hours, alleviating immediate concerns for collectors.