Binance to Launch NFT Marketplace
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is planning to launch its own marketplace for creating and trading non-fungible tokens or NFTs. According to Binance’s announcement, the launch is scheduled for June of this year.
The Binance NFT platform is set to operate a premium segment where the company takes a 10% cut of the proceeds, with the remaining 90% going to the artist. Meanwhile, its standard trading market will only charge a 1% fee, and creators or depositors will receive a 1% royalty.
Even though NFT is not a new concept, these digital collectibles have recently become very popular. NFTs are digital assets that represent ownership of virtual items. These range from art, games, music, and even sports trading cards. In the first four months of 2021, total sales of NFTs skyrocketed to more than $2 billion.
Metarift, a surreal video of 46.5 MB, was sold for $900,000, turning it into some costly artwork. And while some people consider this type of trading to be the same as playing at an online casino with cryptocurrency, others think it’s more commendable.
And while some compare NFT’s explosion in popularity with the craze surrounding ICOs back in 2017, we’re beginning to see the hype wane in recent weeks. The volume of all trades fell by half since mid-March when the previous peak was recorded. But it’s still ten times higher when compared to the prices from last year.
Binance is the latest in a long line of crypto exchanges developing their NFT marketplaces. Crypto.com launched its marketplace in March with content from Snoop Dogg and Boy George, where Gemini’s Nifty Gateway hosted auctions for sought-after artists such as Eminem.
“Binance serves millions of users around the world, many of whom will now be able to access the booming NFT space,” CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, said in a statement.
