In the age of Hype and Speculation, NFTs is the new king in town!
Wall Street Jounal on Sunday reported that NFTs have nearly surpassed $2.5 billion in sales over the past six months.
Surprisingly, NFTs total sales in 2020 were less than $14 mil. There are penthouses in Fifth Avenue that cost twice!
Based on these numbers we can understand that the growth was undeniably tremendous!
But where can you buy NFTs and how dangerous they are as an investment?
The short answer, you can buy them in online auction platforms called marketplaces and yes they are extremly dangerous as an investment.
In this article we are going discuss the following topics:
- What is an NFT?
- What is a Marketplace?
- Best NFT Marketplaces
Let’s go!
What is a NFT?
NFTs are digital goods that are made using blockchain technology. Blockchain is the technology used for creating cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoins and Ethereum.
Most NFTs are created with Ethereum technology. Nevertheless, there are new exciting projects created with the Cardano Blockchain. Cardano Unicorns is perhaps the most notorious of these new projects.
But what the name NFT means?
NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. Non-fungible in plain English means non-replaceable.
NFTs differ from cryptocoins which are by definition replaceble. One Bitcoin can be exchanged with ANY Bitcoin. But not NFTs.
Each NFT is unique and can be exchanged because it has a digital code. Digital versions of tangible assets such as paintings, art and sneakers can be included in NFTs. They also allow for digital versions of intangibles like GIFs and tweets.
Before we get into the NFT marketplace list, let’s first define NFT marketplace.
What is an NFT Marketplace?
An NFT marketplace is a digital platform that allows NFTs to be created and traded.
The Non-Fungible tokens marketplace works in the same way as an e-commerce website where you can buy clothes and other items with digital wallets. There are many NFT marketplaces that allow you to buy, sell and create your NFTs at incredible prices. Before you do that, it is worth researching which NFT marketplace will be the most suitable for you. This is a crucial process to determne how your digital assets will make the maximum returns.
Where to buy NFTs
We now know what an Non Fungible Token is and the importance of an marketplace, but where to buy NFT.It makes sense to look at the top NFT marketplaces in 2021.
The list could see some changes due to the growing digital trend around NFT. These are the most popular marketplaces for the time being.
1. OpenSea
OpenSea proudly claims to be the largest NFT marketplace. OpenSea offers many non-fungible tokens including art, censorship resistant domain names, virtual realms, trading cards and sports.
OpenSea has nearly 4 million assets. It supports both ERC-721 standards and ERC-1155 standards, which is what NFT enthusiasts need. It includes music, artworks, photos, video, music and videos. This is a significant shift in how audiences communicate with the digital world.
2. Rarible
Rarible, a community-owned NFT market place, has its “owners”, who hold the ERC-20 RARI token. Rarible gives the RARI token to users who use the NFT marketplace to buy or sell. Each week, it distributes 75,000 RARI.
This platform focuses on art assets. Rarible allows creators to create new NFTs and sell their creations. Rarible allows creators to show off a small portion of their creation, but only the entire project can be seen by others.
Rarible sells NFTs in a variety of categories, including art, photography and metaverses.
3. SuperRare
Rarible was founded in 2020 by Alex Salnikov, Alexei Falin. Rareible has the added benefit of being a marketplace. It also functions as a distributed network that facilitates trade without the involvement of middlemen. It allows artists to designate their share of the royalty in secondary transactions. Rarible uses RARI, its own cryptocurrency. Rarible is a Decentralized Autonomous Organisation that aims to become a platform where customers can make all the decisions. OpenSea allows you to manage the tokens that were created on Rarible.
SuperRare is a network that creates legitimate art. Its unique ability to present itself as a social networking site over other marketplaces is a remarkable feature.
4. Foundation
Foundation is a platform that brings together digital creators, crypto-natives and collectors to advance culture. It is the new creative economy. Its main focus is digital art.
They announced in August 2020 that they would be inviting creators to explore crypto and experiment with value. They invited creators “hack, subvert and manipulate the value creative work.”
An NFT trades on Foundation for 10%. This means that an artist gets 10% of the sale value if a collector resells their work for a higher price.
5. AtomicMarket
AtomicMarket, a smart contract for shared liquidity NFT market smart contracts, is used by multiple websites. All the items listed on one market are also available on all other markets. This is called shared liquidity.
It’s a marketplace for Atomic Assets. This is a standard for non-fungible tokens using the eosio Blockchain technology. The Atomic Assets standard can be used by anyone to create and tokenize digital assets. Assets can also be bought, sold and auctioned using the Atomic Assets marketplace.
AtomicMarket allows you to list your NFTs and browse the existing listings. NFTs from well-known collections will get a verification mark, making it easier to identify the true NFTs. Blacklisting is given to illegitimate collections.
6. Myth Market
Myth Market is a digital platform offering a variety of marketplaces that deal with digital trading cards brands. GPK is one of the markets featured in their network. Market, Heroes.Market., Shatner.Market. and Shatner.Market. GPK.Market sells a variety digital Garbage Pail Kids cards. Heroes.Market sells blockchain Heroes trading cards, while GoPepe.Market sells GoPepe Trading Cards. Shatner.Market, KOGS.Market offer William Shatner memorabilia as well as KOGS trading card. Myth Market will soon be a top NFT marketplace due to its popularity with GenZ.
7. BakerySwap
Bakery Swap, a digital platform, specializes in NFT trading and decentralized finance. It is the Binance Smart Chain’s pivotal automated market maker. Bakery Swap makes it easier to create and sell your digital creations. BAKE tokens are used for all transactions on this platform. Bakery Swap’s digital marketplace features a variety of competitions, digital exhibits, and online games. To earn additional BAKE tokens, digital assets can be uploaded to BakerySwap and used to create ‘combo meals. To earn more BAKES, users can stake their BAKE token. You can do this by using the Bakery Swap ‘Bread Pool’ feature.
8. Mintable
Mintable, one of the most well-known NFT marketplaces, allows users to trade artworks and music as well as photos, digital collectibles and other in-game assets. This marketplace is well-known for its gasless minting feature, which makes it stand out from the rest. There are three types of auctions on the marketplace: Traditional Auctions (Timed Auctions), Buy it Now Auctions (Buy it Now Auctions), and Timed Auctions. It accepts payments in Ethereum only, as it is an Ethereum-based platform. The creators receive a 5% royalty on any secondary sales.
9. Axie Infinity
NFT for gaming is another powerful and dynamic concept that thrives on the market. AxieInfinity, a digital game, has attracted the attention of NFT enthusiasts. They can raise, fight and collect animated Axies. It is proud to be the largest NFT-based gaming platform in Ethereum and has nearly 15,000 monthly active users. It is a wonderful platform for NFT and game enthusiasts!
10. NBA Top Shot
The NBA owns it as an NFT marketplace. Each match will feature a special segment in which stars players give a spectacular performance. These clips are called moments. NFTs are created from these moments. Digital trading cards, accessories and other items of well-known players can also be converted to NFTs. This marketplace allows users to claim ownership and authenticity for these moments. Fans are drawn to the sport because of its adrenaline rush. These NFTs have been sold for millions to millions of dollars.
Logo | Name | Website |
---|---|---|
OpenSea | Learn more | |
Rarible | Learn more | |
SuperRare | Learn more | |
Foundation | Learn more | |
Atomic Market | Learn more | |
Myth Market | Learn more | |
Bakery Swap | Learn more | |
Mintable | Learn more | |
Axie Infinity | Learn more | |
NBA Top Shot | Learn more |
How to choose where to buy NFT?
The type of NFT that you are looking to sell or buy will determine the marketplace where your NFT is sold. If it’s about baseball cards, then you should go to Digital Trading Cards. They deal in these types of NFTs. A second requirement is that one has a digital wallet for that specific non-fungible token market and cryptocurrency. Metamask wallet is compatible with most NFT marketplaces.
The Bottom Line
We have now seen 10 of the best NFT marketplaces in 2021. I hope this has prompted you to think about NFTs and whether you should invest. NFTs can be a great investment as they can allow you to own a luxury villa. However, they consume a lot of energy and cause environmental damage. There have been many arguments among users. The professionals are looking for ways to make it easier to create crypto products without using a lot of gases.
Let’s see where NFTs go and what impact they have on the environment in the future.