Cryptocurrency exchange Binance plans to introduce its own marketplace for buying/selling digital collector’s items known as NFTs. The company revealed this plan on Tuesday.
For those who don’t know, NFTs or Non-fungible tokens are a type of digital asset designated to represent ownership of rare virtual items. These items could be anything from art to sports trading cards. An example of this is the wildly popular basketball collectibles platform NBA Top Shot.
The total sales of these tokens rose to more than $2 billion in the first quarter, according to NonFungible.com. The website tracks and keeps a record of NFTs’ data. An interesting fact: The figure doesn’t account for the $69 million NFT sold by digital artist Beeple in March.
Binance is currently the biggest crypto exchange in the world in terms of trading volumes. The platform said their NFT marketplace platform would operate two markets. One would be a premium venue for top auctions and another one, a standard trading market that anyone can use to mint new tokens.
Binance also said that a 10% cut would be levied on the premium segment. On the other hand, The day-to-day trading market will charge a 1% “processing fee” while creators will receive 1% “royalty”.
Binance’s NFT feature is slated for a debut in June. The company has launched a landing page where artists can contact the firm for potential leaderships.
Helen Hai, head of Binance’s NFT project said, “Our aim is to provide the largest NFT trading platform in the world with the best minting, buying and exchanging experience, by leveraging the fastest and cheapest solutions powered by Binance blockchain infrastructure and community.”
Binance’s move in the NFT space marks a challenge for Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. It also operates its own NFT marketplace, Nifty Gateway. Nifty has hosted auctions from big names like Eminem and Grimes. Also, Binance moving in NFT space would open a new revenue stream for the company which has benefitted substantially from the growing interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.