Trading App eToro Announces $20 Million Creator Fund for NFTs

Looks like eToro is jumping into NFTs. The financial trading platform announced today that it has set aside $20 million to create eToro.art, a new initiative to support upcoming NFT projects and creators—and buy some NFTs itself. 

NFTs are unique tokens that exist on a blockchain and signify ownership over an asset, often a piece of digital art.

In a statement, eToro shared that it now holds Ethereum NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Crypto Punks, Doodles, and World of Women. 

The company is committing half of the $20 million to support new NFT creators. And anyone can apply to get funding and advising. The platform will offer an open application for any new and aspiring artists to pitch an NFT project, whether it’s a membership-based NFT, a profile picture-style project like the BAYC, or a video game that uses NFTs as in-game assets. 

Guy Hirsch, eToro’s managing director of global NFTs, provided some insight into the company’s foray into NFTs and Web3. “We want [our users] to be a part of this revolution,” he told Decrypt in an interview at the Bitcoin 2022 conference, referring to the 27 million people using eToro.

When it comes to eToro’s NFT fund, Hirsch views NFTs as investments and art. The company will choose projects to fund based on utility and overall potential. “It’s part art, part science,” he said of their approach, which aims to support creators from diverse backgrounds.

While many projects eToro is purchasing are built on Ethereum, Hirsch said he’s also looking into Solana and Avalanche-based projects. “We want to be chain agnostic, multichain,” he said.

EToro’s NFT acquisitions from existing projects will be revealed at the Bass Contemporary Art Museum in Miami this week.