Coinbase Launches a Beta Version of its NFT Marketplace

Coinbase has launched its NFT marketplace with a focus on trying to create a social community for buyers and sellers.

The NFT marketplace will debut initially in beta to a select number of invitees before opening up more broadly to the general public. In the coming weeks, Coinbase plans to expand its marketplace to more people and more countries as they refine the product and introduce new features based on input from initial users.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are certificates of authenticity that show proof of ownership for digital collectibles. The tokens are typically assigned to one-of-a-kind digital music, sports memorabilia and virtual real estate, among other items. 

More than 8.4 million email addresses were on the waitlist for Coinbase NFT. At the time of publication, the crypto exchange reported more than 89 million verified users trading $547 billion in quarterly volume, should the exchange’s liquidity extend to its NFT venture.

Coinbase wants to deepen social engagement in the NFT marketplace and create a community for NFTs in addition to a marketplace to buy and sell NFTs. Besides exploring what’s for sale, users can create a profile and curate it with the NFTs they’ve created, comment on NFTs, or start conversations with other NFT holders and sellers. Like Twitter, users can build followers, and discover other collectors and creators.

Artists can earn royalties from NFTs that give them a percentage of the sale price when their creation is first sold and each time it’s resold on a marketplace. That is, after the original artist first sells the NFT, the buyer could sell the NFT to another buyer in the secondary market and the original artist would receive royalties on that secondary sale.

Coinbase’s marketplace is designed to be open for all, allowing users to disconnect their digital wallets at any time and take their NFTs with them elsewhere. Users can buy or sell NFTs using a self-custody wallet, that is a digital wallet where owners possess their digital money and assets because only they control the private key.

The authenticity of collections will be verified through verification badges. Coinbase will rely on users and the community to report fake NFTs as well as a team that will look out for scams, duplicates, and fakes to take those down.

In order to encourage more persons to use its platform, Coinbase won’t impose a transaction fee for NFT purchases, but over time will begin charging one gradually, which the company says will be a low-single-digit fee. Users can purchase NFTs in cryptocurrency, but also will be able to use a credit card.

Over the next weeks and months, Coinbase plans to partner with artists to drop exclusive NFTs on the Coinbase platform. Coinbase will also help manage payments of royalties for NFT creators so any time an NFT is sold the original creator will be paid on a daily basis.

Disclaimer: The information disclosed on this article is for informational purposes. This is not an investment advice. You should not make any financial, trading or investment decision without consulting a professional financial adviser. Coinbase Payments is an authorised electronic money institution authorised and regulated by the FCA with register number 900635.