Crypto▼ Bearish
POAP shuts down after five years, 6.7 million badges minted
POAP minted 6.7 million attendance badges but shut down March 16 after failing to find a sustainable business model. The team pivots to a new open collectibles standard.
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POAP, the protocol that turned event attendance into blockchain-verified badges, stopped issuing new tokens on March 16, 2026. The project entered maintenance mode after more than five years of operation.
POAP started at the 2019 ETHDenver hackathon. Attendees received a digital badge proving they were there. The idea spread through crypto conferences and DAO governance meetings. By the time it shut down, POAP had minted over 6.7 million unique badges.
The protocol never launched a native token. That meant no revenue from trading fees or speculative premiums. The team raised $10 million in January 2022 to fund expansion and fight spam. That money bought time but not enough to reach profitability.