Where to buy NFTs? Here are the top marketplaces
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NFts are digital assets that act as secure proof for ownership of an item or items in a collection stored on specific blockchain ledgers. An NFT is a non-fungible token that cannot be reproduced or changed. They are usually associated with easily-reproducible items like photos, artworks, videos, and audio. NFTs have become increasingly popular because they can’t be reproduced, making tracking who owns the item more accessible.
How do you buy NFTs?
When you buy NFTs, you need a digital wallet where you can store your cryptocurrency. Most NFTs are currently purchased with Ethereum network’s currency (ETH). Fortunately, ETH can be easily converted into U.S. dollars through various crypto exchange platforms like Gemini, Kraken, and Coinbase. There are many marketplaces to purchase NFTs, which we will get into later, and most often, NFTs are auctioned off. So, you put in a bid, and the highest bidder receives the NFT. However, the are some marketplaces that offer a fixed price for the NFT.
What can be sold as an NFT?
Almost anything can be sold as an NFT, which is why it is such a popular marketplace for artists. Anything digital is available, from video games, digital art, illustrations, animations, short films, music, memes, domain names, and virtual fashion. Artists have the opportunity to sell their work in such a way that they receive royalty through resales - an ideal space for artists to break the typical stereotype of “the starving artist.” For art lovers, collectors use NFTs to support up-and-coming artists and well-known artists alike while showing off their own art collections.
How do NFTs work?
Sales and ownership of NFT’s are governed by smart contracts, which are considered complex transactions. Thus, Ethereum and Solana, blockchain networks, support NFTs through their users’ apps that they build for storing personal data and complex transactions, like smart contracts. More recently, Bitcoin, which mainly operated as a cryptocurrency and payment network, has introduced the Taproot code upgrade, enabling more secure complex transactions. Thus, Bitcoin could support smart contracts for NFTs in the very near future.
The negative aspects of NFTs
Before we get into the best marketplaces to buy NFTs, there are some drawbacks that we should mention. Despite the many benefits of NFTs for expanding the artistic sphere, however, downsides come with NFTs. Without major regulations, instances of fraud and theft are reported. For owners, commissions and fees vary significantly for each NFT. The biggest downside of NFTs is the enormous environmental impact because of the carbon emissions it creates from the use of electricity to run the blockchain networks.
Marketplaces to buy NFTs
There are many marketplaces from around the globe to purchase and sell a range of NFTs. To help you along the process, we have compiled a list of 4 different NFT marketplaces that you can use.
Mintable
Mintable, based in Singapore, offers a marketplace for buying and selling digital art, photography, domain names, and templates. This site has “gasless” NFTs, which means that people can sign up and upload an NFT without paying beforehand. Gasless NFTs open up a considerable space for more people to buy and sell. Minted is built on Ethereum and Zilliqa blockchains and integrated with MetaMask, allowing users to establish cryptocurrency wallets. The site has both listed and bidding items that buyers can purchase.
OpenSea
OpenSea is located in New York and was founded in 2017 by a development time that considers itself “the first and largest marketplace for user-owned digital goods.” OpenSea has more than 34 million NFTs ranging from sports, music, games, digital art, domain names, virtual worlds, and collectibles. OpenSea sells NFTs at either fixed prices or through auctions where buyers bid on a platform with over 300 000 users. This site uses USDC (USD Coin) or the other 150 other tokens for payment.
Rarible
Rarible, based in Wilmington, Delaware, buys, sells, and mints digital art, photography, games, music, animated videos, and GIFs. Similar to Spotify’s layout, columns are stacked for users to scroll new collections, auctions, and featured items and top sellers. Rarible will now use the RARI token on Ethereum’s blockchain as a form of governance, where the most active buyers and sellers get involved and vote on platform changes, upgrades, and decisions.
Sorare
Sorare, located in Paris, is wholly focused on sport, unlike any other sites we have mentioned. Users can enjoy a fantasy soccer league that is crypto-currency based where they can collect cards as NFTs in the 180 soccer clubs available. Users use these virtual sports cards in online competitions. Sorare only uses Ethereum for transactions on its site.
NFTs have uses as certificates (educational certidicates, IDs) and ownership proofs (property)
NFTs should NOT be used to buy speculative “assets”.
They are not a get rich quick scheme
Precisely. Unfortunately too many NFTs being sold (and bought by suckers) are appropriately likened to “one-time Happy Meal toys”, with nary a chance of having any actual value outside of being a novel souvenir.
On the other hand, it’s basically an “open secret” at this point that art purchases can be used to launder arbitrary amounts of money. NFTs remove basically all the inconveniences of the traditional approaches to buying, selling, and storing art since everything is digital. Now instead of just a few “big name” art houses, everyone can play the game now. ;)
I remember comments like this when the Internet was coming to life. Very few people outside of computer science departments had a clue. Not even Email. Yes – email was considered to be a fad. I was there, I witnessed it first hand.
NFTs are for real. They are not easy to understand because they introduce a radical new concept: the elminination of the middleman — the bane of economic justice through the ages — once a for all. Banks, brokers, certification authorities, stock exchanges — all gone. No more people making money by implaning themselves in the middle, building their “brand” and then just raking it while people on the two sids of the transaction do the real work.
And let me ask you: do you love the experience of going to your bank to get something “notorized”? Neither do I.
So, buck up and spend sometime trying to understand instead of turning into grumpy old folk just because you are too lazy to sit down and read…
Exactly! You can notice how this type of people haven’t done any research when they all repeat the same phrases. This even apply for many nft creators that creates trash collections because they thinks that’s all you need to become millionaire(ignoring that many big collection offers more than the pic of the nft), causing this dark image of a technology that could be used for great things. :c
Maybe it’s just me being too set in my ways, but I literally don’t understand the point of NFTs.
Let’s say owning the rights to a jpeg or a gif, who the fuck would waste their money on that?
Crypto at-least have some value in theory.
There is people that waste thousands of dollars on useless pieces of plastic and skins because “muh collectionism”
I don’t get it honestly but well I guess consumerism hits hard on some people.
Now I don’t think NFT are just dumb crypto apes and shit. It’s a technology that could have some great uses in the future.
There is people that waste thousands of dollars on useless pieces of plastic because “muh collectionism”
I don’t get it too but well I guess consumerism hits hard on some people.
I don’t think NFT are just dumb crypto apes and shit. It’s a technology that could have some great uses in the future.
Still not found on this planet, intelligent life forms of the human variety.
Why dont they work on that?
The people who come up with this crap should be ashamed, they would likely sell their children and family to slavery if they made a buck and would be able to get away with it.
Seriously GHACKS, I suppose y’all endorse this big FU to the planet too right…
A foolish fad.
Please don’t promote environmentally destructive trash like this in the future. Thank you.
Yes this, please none of this nonsense
The new multi-trillion dollar world of make-believe commerce.
That’s right everyone……..if you can imagine it, put an NFT price tag on it!
There be fools out there willing to pay you “real” currency for whatever it is you imagined.
But then again, most of all the real dollars, euros, yuan etc….are digital and imaginary so…..
A perfect fit indeed.
NO. Just NO.
*hits Shaun on the nose with a rolled up newspaper*
NFTs are a bad thing. They provide no value for humanity. Let’s please forget they were ever invented.
Just light your money on fire. At least they’ll keep you warm throughout the coming winter!
Torches and Pitchforks are coming for this ‘article’.
FonzieJumpingShark.gif
Yeah it was obvious that something like this would happen sadly. Maybe the author could have choose some more eco-friendly marketplaces. Those need more attention even if ethereum will go full PoS at the end of this year. For example there is CNFT.IO which uses Cardano.
I get these are not as popular as the ethereum ones but they deserve a try since they have tried to achieve the environmental problem before.