Published: Oct 26, 2022, 2:30pm
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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) give you ownership of artwork, music, videos and other online collectibles. They exist on blockchains, the innovative technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
As the popularity of NFTs has grown, the NFT market has climbed to more than INR 3 trillion in value, according to The 2021 NFT Market Report released by blockchain data company Chainalysis.
Here are some of the most popular and well-rated NFT marketplaces where you can buy and sell these digital assets.
OpenSea is ancient by NFT standards, having launched in 2017, and it’s also among the largest NFT marketplaces active today. It hosts many popular NFTs, including art, music, photography, trading cards and virtual worlds.
The core cryptocurrencies used on OpenSea are Ethereum, Solana, and USDC, and payment options feature other cryptos. Just note that you can’t use fiat currencies like U.S. dollars, euros or rupees.
On the bright side, OpenSea is very user-friendly for beginners. You can set up an account for free within minutes and start browsing NFTs immediately, and you can even create NFTs on their platform.
For costs, OpenSea charges a fee equal to 2.5% of every transaction. You must also pay the gas fee for completing NFT transactions with Ethereum. Gas fees are the transaction fees paid to miners.
If you’re looking to avoid the gas fee, you can buy and sell NFTs with Polygon. But you’ll need to ensure that the NFT item of interest displays the Polygon logo.
In short, OpenSea is a solid choice for beginners looking to get started with a straightforward marketplace and who want as many options as possible for NFTs.
Rarible allows users to buy and sell art, collectibles, video game assets and NFTs. You can buy and deal on Rarible with Ethereum, Flow and Tezos.
Rarible charges a flat 2.5% fee on every transaction, plus any gas fees. One nice feature is you can buy NFTs using a credit card, allowing transactions in fiat currencies.
An interesting aspect of Rarible: Rather than having in-house management decide everything, Rarible created its own native token called RARI. The holders of RARI get to vote on company decisions like company policy changes.
In 2021, Rarible announced a partnership with Adobe to make it easier to verify and protect the metadata for digital content, including NFTs.
For those that want access to a large network with solid connections, Rarible could be the best NFT marketplace. At the same time, it also still follows a decentralized mindset.
WazirX is a centralized Indian cryptocurrency exchange founded in the year 2018. It has around 7.3 million users. The exchange was acquired by Binance, a crypto trading platform. They launched an NFT marketplace devoted to regional and traditional creators. WazirX is well known to host its first NFT exhibition and musical NFTs and is said to be a very good option for beginners.
WazirX recorded around INR 2 trillion trading in a record year by November 2021. It even crashed because of high user activities seen following the news of the Indian government’s cryptocurrency bill decision in Parliament.
It works on the binance smart chain network. To buy an NFT or place a bid you need to have a WRX token in your wallet. The BSC blockchain is quicker than ETH with lower gas fees. It also allows multiple chain transfers. It is easy for both creators and collectors. The perk is that it is adaptable with a simple layout that makes it effortless to mint new collections, organize them, bid on NFTs trade and put them to auctions.
The crypto exchange charges 5% service charges and the rest of the proceedings can be kept by the creators. It has an invite-only community and no other fees which makes it a great marketplace with no drawbacks.
Jupiter Meta is an Indian NFT marketplace based in Chennai. It was founded in 2021 to trade NFTs and various other cultural and creative segments. It is an innovative marketplace that emphasizes on creating a singular metaverse experience through games, music and films.
Currently, it is working on the ‘Singara Chennai’ a digital art NFT project that focuses on showcasing iconic Chennai destinations and items. From locations, food, places of worship and beaches, etc in the background and a combination of past, present and future elements represented in the foreground.
It provides a personalized experience and fixed prices. Its zero gas fee is backed by Rubix blockchain technology level 1.
Bollycoin is the connecting link between Bollywood and blockchain. It is devoted to Bollywood projects and can interest all Bollywood enthusiasts. An integral part of bollycoin is by minting Bollywood-themed NFTs. They offer posters, stills, movie tickets, movie clips and other souvenirs.
All the decisions are taken by the Bollywood community through a voting process and taken into action on the DAO autonomously. Members can also obtain royalties on grounds of their activities and may use their crypto coins to purchase NFTs.
Recently, they revealed its Dabangg collection in association with Salman Khan.
BuyUCoin is a leading crypto exchange in India and was founded in the year 2016. It serves around 3,50,000 users and handles more than INR 24 billion in digital asset transactions. Its main aim is to bring crypto into every Indian’s pockets.
They buy, sell and trade 33 cryptos including Bitcoins, Ethereum, Ripple, Steller, etc. It allows users to leverage UPI for the financial aspects. It is a committed marketplace that has a UI similar to OpenSea. They also have some of the famous NFT projects that you can get a hold of. They just charge their users a maker fee of 0.24%.
Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, added an NFT marketplace in 2021. The international crypto exchange is one of many other industry players entering the NFT sector, like Crypto.com NFT, which describes itself as a highly-curated NFP marketplace.
Binance NFT offers the typical digital assets found on other major platforms: artwork, gaming items, and collectibles.
A major advantage of Binance NFT is that it charges very low fees. The platform only deducts a 1% trading fee. It’s also a user-friendly platform built using similar technology and layouts as their exchange.
As such a large player in the crypto space, Binance also runs on its own blockchain, giving it an added advantage.
An NFT marketplace is a digital platform for buying and selling NFTs. These platforms allow people to store and display their NFTs plus sell them to others for cryptocurrency or money. Some NFT marketplaces also allow users to mint their NFTs on the platform itself.
In exchange for a fee, the NFT marketplace will typically handle the transfer of an NFT from one party to the other.
Each NFT marketplace has its own system for how it operates. The types of NFTs available, fees, payment options, permitted blockchains and other rules will depend on which one you use.
When you create an account with an NFT marketplace, you can browse through all their available options for sale. You can also add a payment method, and some require you to link a crypto wallet to pay with crypto, while others allow you to use a credit card.
Some sites let you buy NFTs directly for a fixed price, while others will use an auction.
If you complete the transaction, the NFT marketplace will record it on its blockchain showing the change of ownership.
In the world of NFTs, minting refers to the process of creating new NFTs on a blockchain, most commonly Ethereum. When you mint an NFT, you’re recording data that comprises a new NFT in a new block that’s then added to a blockchain.
Minting an NFT typically comes with fees. For NFT systems that use the Ethereum blockchain, this cost is paid in gas, a crypto token used to perform functions on the Ethereum blockchain.
More and more, NFT marketplaces are becoming creative about how, when and to whom minting fees are charged.
