POAP Announces Official Shutdown After Over Five Years of Operation Due to Unsustainable Business Model

POAP co-founder isabel (@izonline) posted on the X platform, announcing the official closure of the on-chain souvenir protocol POAP. POAP has operated since 2021, cumulatively minting millions of on-chain collectibles for hundreds of communities. It partnered with world-class institutions such as Coinbase, American Express (Amex), Warner Music Group (WMG), and Bayer, and completed the minting of over 8,000 collectibles during Devcon. The founder stated that the funding cycles and traffic distribution mechanisms in the crypto industry made it difficult for POAP to achieve commercial sustainability without compromising the project's original vision. Coupled with the dual pressure of rapid tech stack iteration and market hype cycles, this ultimately led to the project's shutdown. The founder also summarized three core lessons: customer communities are a company's most underestimated asset; "sense of connection" is the essential value of a product; and long-term brand trust is the only moat in the current market.