In their own words. Nifty Gateway's Terms of Use, verbatim.

§ 2 — Definitions: 'NFT' explicitly excludes the artwork

"NFTs or Nifties" means non-fungible tokens (i.e. units of data stored on a blockchain), exclusive of any Artwork or other off-chain file or asset referenced in the code or metadata of the NFTs or otherwise associated with the token.

Plain English. By Nifty Gateway's own definition, an "NFT" is the on-chain token alone. The picture is a separate thing.

§ 12 — Sale terms: buying an NFT does not necessarily convey ownership of the artwork

Purchasing an NFT conveys ownership of the non-fungible token but does not necessarily convey ownership to the Artwork or other files or assets referenced by the NFT.

Plain English. The transaction transfers the token. Any rights to the picture depend on a separate grant from the creator or publisher.

§ 12 — No refunds, by contract

No refunds or returns are permitted except with respect to any statutory warranties or guaranties that cannot be excluded or limited by law.

Plain English. By the terms of this clause, the contractual default is no refund. The carve-out points back to statutory warranties or guarantees that the clause states cannot be excluded or limited by applicable law.

§ 11 — No obligation to ensure file availability or off-chain URL persistence

You understand that when we act as a custodian for NFTs, or use a Third Party Custodian to provide custody service, these custodial arrangements relate to control of blockchain addresses and do not extend to custody of the Artwork or any other file or asset referenced in or associated with the NFTs. We may, but are not obligated to, store or engage third parties to store copies of the Artwork or other files associated with NFTs for our own purposes, including to enhance the functionality of the Site. We make no representations with respect to any third parties we may engage to store any such Artwork and files for any purpose. We do not undertake any obligation with respect to the Artwork or other files or assets referenced by NFTs, including any obligation to ensure that such files will be available or that any reference to an off-chain file in the NFTs on-chain record will remain functional.

Plain English. By the terms of this clause, the custody Nifty Gateway provides relates to control of blockchain addresses and not to custody of the artwork files. Nifty Gateway does not undertake any obligation to store the artwork or to keep an off-chain URL referenced by the token functional. Any storage or migration steps Nifty Gateway elects to take — including the announced Arweave migration — are not framed as obligations in this section. The technical implications are documented at /trapped.

§ 11 — Insolvency outcomes are 'unsettled and not guaranteed'

You explicitly understand and acknowledge that the treatment of NFTs in the event of an insolvency proceeding is unsettled and not guaranteed, and that the insolvency proceeding could result in outcomes that are impossible to predict reliably.

Plain English. By the terms of this clause, Nifty Gateway states that the treatment of NFTs in an insolvency proceeding is unsettled and that outcomes are not guaranteed. The clause appears in the Terms of Use as last revised on 18 January 2024.

§ 18 — Risks: files 'are likely to be stored off-chain and may become unavailable'

Artwork or other files or assets associated with NFTs are likely to be stored off-chain and may become unavailable, or may be altered or replaced; Nifty Gateway does not ensure or represent that a user will have enduring or exclusive access to such Artwork or other files or assets.

Plain English. The failure mode discussed elsewhere on this site — files becoming unavailable, altered, or replaced — is named explicitly in this section. Nifty Gateway disclosed the possibility of this outcome in writing.

§ 22 — Disclaimers: no guarantee they can effect transfer of title

NFTs ARE INTANGIBLE DIGITAL ASSETS. THEY EXIST ONLY BY VIRTUE OF THE OWNERSHIP RECORD MAINTAINED IN THE ETHEREUM NETWORK. ANY TRANSFER OF TITLE THAT MIGHT OCCUR IN ANY UNIQUE DIGITAL ASSET OCCURS ON THE DECENTRALIZED LEDGER WITHIN THE ETHEREUM PLATFORM. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT NIFTY GATEWAY OR ANY NIFTY GATEWAY PARTY CAN EFFECT THE TRANSFER OF TITLE OR RIGHT IN ANY NFTs.

Plain English. By its terms, this clause does not state that Nifty Gateway guarantees it can effect transfer of title in any NFT. The on-chain transfer mechanics for the Beeple primary contracts are documented separately at /trapped.

§ 17 — They may modify any part of the Service without notice

You agree and understand that we may modify part or all of Nifty Gateway or the Services without notice.

Plain English. The withdrawals-only mode in effect since 24 January 2026 is the type of product change this clause addresses. By its terms, the clause does not require prior notice.

§ 28 — Termination of access

We reserve the right, without notice and in our sole discretion, to terminate your license to access or use Nifty Gateway, the Services, or the Site, at any time and for any reason. You understand and agree that we shall have no liability or obligation to you in such an event.

Plain English. The clause addresses termination of the user's license to access the Service. The 23 April 2026 closure of the platform is the type of action the clause covers. The page makes no claim about whether the contractual position taken in this clause would be enforceable in a particular jurisdiction; that is a question of applicable consumer-protection law.

§ 27 — Security interest in user accounts and right of set-off

You grant us a security interest in your account, including any NFTs in your account, for debts, amounts owed, or liabilities incurred to us or any of our affiliates by you or any of your authorized representatives […] We also may set off or take from your account, including any NFT in your account, or deduct from any obligations we may have to you, for any direct, indirect, and acquired Obligations that you owe us or our affiliates.

Plain English. By the terms of this clause, every NFT held in a Nifty Gateway custodial account is granted as security for amounts owed by the user to Nifty Gateway or any of its affiliates, and Nifty Gateway is given a contractual right of set-off against those NFTs. "Affiliate" is defined elsewhere in Nifty Gateway's documentation to include the parent company Gemini Trust Company, LLC and its related entities.

§ 23 — Cap on aggregate liability

NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF NIFTY GATEWAY ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, THE ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, CONTENT, NFTs, OR ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES PURCHASED ON THE SITE EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) $100 OR (B) THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID TO NIFTY GATEWAY FOR THE SERVICES IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS OUT OF WHICH LIABILITY AROSE.

Plain English. The cap formula in the clause is the greater of (A) $100 or (B) the amount paid to Nifty Gateway for the Services in the six months preceding the matter giving rise to liability. The clause contains separate carve-outs lower down preserving liability for fraud and personal injury. Whether this contractual cap is enforceable against any particular user is a question of applicable law, not of the clause itself.

§ 4 — Reserved right of confiscation and transaction invalidation

IF NIFTY GATEWAY HAS A REASONABLE BELIEF THAT YOU HAVE ENGAGED IN ACTIVITIES (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) ABOVE, NIFTY GATEWAY RESERVES THE RIGHT, IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, TO CONFISCATE ANY NFTs ACQUIRED IN CONNECTION WITH THOSE ACTIVITIES AND/OR DEEM SUCH TRANSACTIONS NULL AND VOID.

Plain English. By the terms of this clause, the determination of whether one of the listed activities has occurred rests with Nifty Gateway, and the contractual remedy is confiscation of NFTs acquired in connection with those activities or invalidation of the underlying transaction.

§ 11 — Custody may be 'omnibus': multiple users in one wallet

A Custody Wallet may include a virtual wallet or wallets used to hold and access NFTs for multiple Users on an omnibus basis.

Plain English. A holder whose NFTs are in Nifty Gateway custody may not have a dedicated wallet — under this clause, tokens may sit in a single shared address with other users. The treatment of assets held in omnibus custodial wallets, and the question of which holder owns which on-chain asset, is a recurring legal question in custodial-platform insolvencies generally.

§ 26 — Disputes: individual arbitration, class-action waiver, mass-filing bellwether protocol

You and Nifty Gateway agree to arbitrate solely on an individual basis, and agree and understand that these Terms of Use do not permit class action or private attorney general litigation or arbitration of any claims brought as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative arbitration proceeding or litigation ("Representative and Class Action Waiver") […] if, at any time, 25 or more similar demands for arbitration are asserted against either party […] NAM shall select 15 demands for arbitration to proceed ("Bellwether Arbitrations"). While the Bellwether Arbitrations are adjudicated, no other demand for arbitration that is part of the Mass Filings may be filed, processed, or adjudicated […] You and Nifty Gateway agree to keep any arbitration strictly confidential.

Plain English. Three procedural elements set out in this section: an individual-arbitration requirement with a class-action waiver; a mass-filing protocol that, by its terms, pauses claims beyond an initial fifteen "Bellwether Arbitrations"; and a confidentiality requirement applicable to the arbitration proceedings themselves.

On method

Every quotation on this page is reproduced verbatim from a single document — Nifty Gateway's Terms of Use as captured by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine on 29 December 2025. Section numbers are preserved. Emphasis (bold, italics) within the quotations has been added to draw the eye to the operative phrasing; the underlying text is unchanged. Where quotations are abridged for length, the omission is shown as "[…]". The plain-English glosses are this site's commentary; the quotations are Nifty Gateway's.

The page makes no claim about intent. It does not allege that any clause is unconscionable, unenforceable, or violates any specific statute — those are determinations for courts and regulators in each affected jurisdiction. It documents only what Nifty Gateway, in writing, asked every user to agree to before that user could buy a single NFT on the platform.

Companion pages: /trapped — the technical anatomy · /nifty-gateway — the dossier.