In brief
- Crypto exchange Binance plans to launch its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in June.
- The platform will host premium NFT launches as well as a trading market for the general public.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has revealed its plans to launch a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in June, according to a press release shared with Decrypt today.
“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,” said Helen Hai, head of Binance’s NFT project, in the announcement.
NFTs are cryptographically-unique tokens that can be used to represent digital media such as artwork or music, essentially functioning as a certificate of authenticity and ownership that cannot be replicated or counterfeited. Over the past year, the market for NFTs has boomed, with trading volumes soaring and individual NFTs selling for outrageous sums of money. Amidst all of this, traffic to NFT marketplaces has surged, so it's no surprise that Binance wants a piece of the action.
How will Binance's NFT marketplace work?
According to the announcement, Binance’s marketplace will offer two ways to buy and sell NFTs—premium events and a trading market—that will allow users to not only create and mint artworks but also deposit them from different blockchains.
Premium events, as their name implies, will be reserved for “select works through high-end exhibitions,” akin to “drops” from famous artists on other NFT marketplaces. For these sales, Binance will charge a 10% fee while 90% of the profits will go towards the creators.
The trading market, on the other hand, will be more democratic and open to everybody. Every user will be able to create their own NFTs and put them up for sale or auction. Binance will charge a 1% fee for this offering, with NFT creators and depositors earning a 1% royalty on subsequent sales of their work.
“Binance serves millions of users around the world, many of whom will now be able to access the booming NFT space,” said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. He added that, “The Binance NFT marketplace will also support small value creators by providing the highest liquidity and cheapest fees for users.”
The NFT marketplace will be fully integrated into Binance’s platform and will use the accounts system from Binance.com, allowing existing users to access it without any additional registration. Initially, the new service will be available only through the Binance desktop site, with support for iOS and Android coming “at a later date.”