Benoît Pagotto, visionary RTFKT co-founder and NFT pioneer, passes away at 41

RTFKT co-founder Benoît Pagotto has died at the age of 41, sparking widespread tributes across the NFT and crypto communities. He was known for Nike’s digital arm and one of the Web3’s influential creative brands. 

Philippe Rodriguez, a French tech executive and founding partner at Avolta Partners, confirmed his death on Sunday. He described Pagotto’s death as sudden and praised him as super creative, discreet, and humble. Rodriguez’s firm advised RTFKT on its 2021 sale to Nike. According to Rodriguez, Pagotto believed that beauty could change the world. 

Crypto and fashion communities mourn RTFKT Co-founder 

Steven Vasilev, RTFKT co-founder, confirmed the death of Pagotto on X, saying the vision, mission, and inspiration Benito gave to the world will live on forever. Samuel Cardillo, Former CTO at RTFKT, wrote his condolences remembering Pagotto as a grumpy Parisian cliche and a genius who would speak his mind with no fear. Cardillo hopes that the late will respawn as ravenous. 

Visionary, Genius, Mentor, Friend & Brother

The vision, mission and inspiration @benitopagotto gave to the world will live on forever. ♾️ 👁️‍🗨️

Heartbroken we lost a legend 💔🕊️ pic.twitter.com/Jwn1zBVpK0

— Zaptio RTFKT (@Zaptio) October 12, 2025

Benoît Pagotto co-founded RTFKT in 2020 with Vasilev and Chris Le to connect fashion, gaming, and blockchain culture. Their studio collaboration with Takashi Murakami and Jeff Staple and the Clone X series soared, among other NFT collections of the last crypto bull run, generating nearly $120 million in lifetime trading volume, according to DeFiLlama data.

According to Greg Solano, the Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founder, Pagotto represented the kindest and funniest people he met in the crypto ecosystem. He recalled the late Pagotto’s offering for help when they were still young in the industry and staying genuine even after success. 

Nike acquired RTFKT in December 2021, bridging its global fashion brand into the Web3 ecosystem. Pagotto was the lead creative director at RTFKT, exploring physically linked NFTs, which became a model for other companies to blend blockchain technology with cultural branding. He later maintained his ties with Nike after the 2024 wind-down operations for RTFKT as a Senior Director of Brand and Partnerships. According to Business of Fashion’s BoF 500 list in 2022, the late was recognized for shaping the future of global fashion via innovation in metaverse design and digital identity. 

RTFKT NFT token price jumps by over 420%

Similar NFT projects, such as Clone X, have received renewed investor interest, with the project’s price jumping by 21.4 % over the past 24 hours. According to Coingecko data, the NFT token is currently trading at 0.19 ETH with 9,155 unique owners. The 24-hour volume has jumped by over 204% to 14.73 ETH. The 24-hour sales have risen to 75, representing a 158.6% jump. 

The RTFKT NFT project has also registered a positive 420.83% change over the past 24 hours. It is currently trading at 0.03 ETH. The 24-hour volume has skyrocketed to 8,900.4% to 2.02 ETH, with a total of 74 sales over the past 24 hours. 

The Ethereum token price has jumped over 8% over the past 24 hours, revealing renewed investor confidence in the project. ETH was trading at $4,174.35 at the time of publication, with a 24-hour volume of $60.23 billion, representing over 18% jump from the previous close. 

Nike stock also experienced market shifts, with a 4.17% drop at the time of publication. The stock was trading at $65.22 with a 24-hour average volume of 16.18 million. Nike’s stock has seen negative investor confidence based on the YTD, which was at -13.81% at the time of publication. The stock initially registered an over 5% rise during the acquisition of the Web3 project in late 2021, showing investor confidence and sensitivity towards crypto-linked project cycles. 

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