Foundation

Update (April 27, 2026): Foundation is offline. The team announced permanent shutdown after a planned sale to a third party fell through. NFTs and smart contracts remain onchain and recoverable; the IPFS gateway is maintained through April 27, 2027. This profile preserves the historical and technical context for collectors, journalists, and migration researchers.

Foundation (foundation.app) was one of the most celebrated curated NFT art marketplaces on Ethereum. Launched in February 2021 by Foundation Labs, it pioneered an invite-only creator model — only artists vetted and invited by existing Foundation creators could mint on the platform, giving the venue a distinctive gallery-grade quality bar.

Foundation's aesthetic and curation set it apart from OpenSea. Every drop was hung in a single-page gallery grid backed by English auctions, Buy Now pricing, and hand-curated featured collections. The result was a venue that felt less like a swap meet and more like a digital gallery — and it drew serious artists and serious collectors during the 2021 NFT art boom.

Fees & royalties: Foundation charged a 5% marketplace fee (reduced from 15% in 2022) on auction and Buy Now sales, and enforced a 10% perpetual creator royalty on secondary sales — paid in perpetuity to the original creator, smart-contract enforced. The combination made Foundation one of the most creator-friendly venues in NFTs.

Foundation was built as a non-custodial, onchain system. NFTs were minted directly to creators' wallets, listed via Foundation's English-auction contracts, and settled on Ethereum. The IPFS pinning made asset media resilient, though the April 2026 shutdown highlighted the long-term fragility of centralised IPFS gateways — inspiring community-led tools to mirror and pin Foundation artworks.

Foundation's design language and curated creator economy deeply influenced the wider NFT ecosystem — SuperRare, Zora, and Manifold all drew from Foundation's playbook. Although the platform itself is offline, Foundation's smart contracts remain live on Ethereum, and the body of work it hosted continues to trade on secondary venues like OpenSea and LooksRare.

Foundation's fee structure (historical — platform offline as of April 27, 2026):

Foundation did not support fiat or card payments; all settlements were in ETH on Ethereum mainnet.

Invite-only curated creator model

Only artists invited by existing Foundation creators could mint. This built a self-curating quality bar that distinguished Foundation from open venues and made the platform a destination for serious collectors.

English auctions + Buy Now

Foundation popularised timed English auctions as the default sale mechanism for premium NFT art, alongside Buy Now fixed-price listings. Auctions ran for 24 hours with a 15-minute extension window if bids were placed in the final minutes.

10% perpetual creator royalty

Foundation enforced a 10% royalty on every secondary sale, paid to the original creator in perpetuity, smart-contract enforced. This made Foundation one of the most creator-friendly venues in NFTs and influenced industry-wide royalty standards.

Curated drops + featured collections

Foundation's curation team hand-picked featured drops and curated collections, often with editorial-style write-ups and gallery-grade presentation. Each drop felt like an exhibition opening.

Onchain non-custodial

All NFTs were minted directly to creator wallets and settled via open Ethereum smart contracts. After the April 2026 shutdown, NFTs remained in user wallets and contracts remained live onchain — only the Foundation frontend and IPFS gateway went offline.

IPFS-pinned media (until April 2027)

Foundation maintained IPFS pinning for all artworks. The team committed to maintaining the IPFS gateway through April 27, 2027 — after which collectors and community-led tools (from @ripe0x and @jalilwahdat) stepped in to mirror media.

Creator contracts portable to Transient Labs

Following the shutdown, Foundation creator contracts that were indexed on Foundation can be imported into Transient Labs — letting creators continue managing their editions, drops, and royalties on a live venue.