Binance To Launch It's Own NFT Platform

World's largest crypto exchange Binance is launching its own marketplace for creating and trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The company announced via a blog post on Tuesday the upcoming launch of Binance NFT, a new NFT platform that is expected to start operating in June, adding that the platform offers users low fees, high liquidity, and a better user experience.

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For context, nonfungible tokens are a type of digital asset. They’re designed to represent ownership of rare virtual items — that could be anything from works of art to sports trading cards like those sold on the popular online basketball collectibles platform NBA Top Shot. NFTs are unique digital collectibles brought online using blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Most NFTs are currently based on the Ethereum blockchain, while other blockchains like Binance’s smart contract blockchain network, Binance Smart Chain, are beginning to enter the space. 

The news comes at a time when the NFT activity is on the decline. Weekly NFT trading volumes have dropped significantly since their peak in February, according to a report by The Block. Weekly users and transactions of NFT platforms have also declined.

Total sales of these tokens soared to more than $2 billion in the first quarter, according to NonFungible.com, a website that tracks data on NFTs. And that figure doesn’t even account for the record-breaking $69 million NFT sold by digital artist Mike Winkelmann (AKA Beeple) at Christie’s in March.

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Based on Binance’s blockchain infrastructure, Binance NFT aims to provide minimum NFT transaction costs, Binance NFT head Helen Hai said.

The new NFT marketplace and offerings will be available to all existing Binance users, as Binance NFT will share the same account system as Binance.com.

According to the announcement, Binance NFT will debut with two main venues including a “Trading Market” allowing everyday users to create NFTs, with Binance charging a 1% processing fee. A “Premium Event” category will target exclusive collaborations and curated collections, with artists receiving 90% of profits from NFT sales.