Major Web3 Events Canceled Following Market Downturn
Organizers of NFT Paris and RWA Paris 2026 have officially canceled both events. This comes after four consecutive years of running these gatherings, including through the difficult 2022-2023 bear market period. The decision was made public recently, with the team citing the severe impact of the late-2025 crypto market crash.
I think it’s worth noting that these weren’t small events. They’d become significant fixtures in the European Web3 calendar. The fact they couldn’t weather this particular storm says something about the current climate.
The Financial Reality Hits Hard
‘The market collapse hit us hard,’ the organizing team stated. ‘Despite drastic cost cuts and months of trying to make it work, we couldn’t pull it off this year.’
That’s a pretty direct admission. They tried cutting costs wherever possible, but apparently it wasn’t enough. Ticket holders will receive refunds, which is good to hear. However, the situation with sponsors seems less clear. The organizers mentioned they may not be able to refund all sponsors, as the event was progressing normally until funds simply ran out.
It makes you wonder about the financial model for these conferences. They require significant upfront investment—venue bookings, speaker arrangements, marketing. When sentiment shifts suddenly, organizers can get caught in a difficult position.
NFT Market Context: Activity Versus Creation
The cancellation happens against a complex NFT market backdrop. On one hand, NFT creation actually continued through 2025, with the total number of collections increasing. But trading activity? That slowed down significantly.
Ethereum remains the most active network for what we might call ‘legacy’ collections, with about $2.74 million in NFT activity. Other chains like Solana, Polygon, Cardano, and Immutable still see some action. Interestingly, Bitcoin briefly held the leading position for collectibles in the past month, which shows how these things can shift unexpectedly.
But here’s the thing—most Layer 2 or newer Layer 1 chains show practically negligible NFT volumes. OpenSea continues to handle traffic for NFTs on Base, likely because of low transaction fees. It’s a cost-sensitive market now.
The State of Blue-Chip Collections
Looking at the so-called blue-chip collections tells its own story. CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, and Pudgy Penguins remain the top three. But their price floors have seen better days.
CryptoPunks are hovering around 29 ETH, close to their 2024 lows. Bored Apes hit an all-time low floor of 5.52 ETH. Pudgy Penguins managed a slight recovery to 5.15 ETH, but that’s still a fraction of previous highs.
NFTs as a concept haven’t disappeared. They’re still being issued alongside tokens, used in games, or created as community swag. But the speculative frenzy? That seems to have cooled considerably. These assets no longer reliably store value, and high-profile auctions are rare now.
What Conference Cancellations Really Mean
Some analysts see conference cancellations as lagging indicators. The NFT market bottom was likely established before these decisions were made. Meanwhile, on-chain transaction building continues for new collections.
Perhaps the most interesting thought here is that despite some collections crashing to zero value, NFTs might make a comeback in another form. The technology itself hasn’t disappeared—it’s just waiting for the next use case that resonates with people.
The cancellation of NFT Paris and RWA Paris 2026 feels symbolic. It marks the end of a particular phase in the NFT narrative. But in Web3, endings often contain the seeds of whatever comes next. The community will keep building, just maybe in different ways than before.
