POAP announces entry into maintenance mode, as the founding team transitions to build the next generation of digital collectibles infrastructure

The blockchain attendance proof protocol POAP announced that it will enter maintenance mode starting March 16, 2026, ceasing the onboarding of new issuers, but existing issuers, integrations, and collection tools will continue to operate.

POAP co-founder Isabel Gonzalez stated that the platform successfully found its niche in the crypto-native community but failed to break out of the niche to achieve larger-scale expansion. The platform began charging commercial clients in 2023 to sustain operations, but still could not support further development.

Since its first issuance at the 2019 ETHDenver hackathon, POAP has minted over 6.7 million tokens, attracting more than 37,000 issuers, including brands like Adidas and Porsche. The team is currently focused on building an open digital collectibles standard to provide a more sustainable infrastructure for community event records and participation certification.