The FTX NFT market will begin with non-fungible tokens on the Solana blockchain, expanding to the dominant Ethereum soon.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX U.S. cryptocurrency exchange has launched a new marketplace for NFTs on the Solana blockchain.
The FTX NFT marketplace will provide the U.S. crypto community a regulated exchange on which to mint, hold, authenticate and trade NFTs, the company said in an October 11 announcement.
It will be available exclusively to FTX U.S. customers. FTX U.S. President Brett Harrison said:
"The NFT ecosystem has started to infiltrate pop culture, but has been lacking a platform that provides easy access and exposure to the mainstream audience. With the FTX NFT Platform, we have the ability to provide simpler, safer and easier tools to remove the barriers to entry for that audience to enter the NFT space... We hope to provide both US and global users with a regulated marketplace that is intuitive and responsive to their needs.”
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have emerged as a leading category of cryptocurrency, expanding quickly into the mainstream consciousness thanks to professional basketball’s NBA Top Shot line and the high-profile, multimillion-dollar sales at auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s for projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. McDonald’s China just launched an NFT collection.
FTX NFT will offer both auction-based and fixed pricing, and can be listed for U.S. dollars, as well as Solana or Ether. The exchange will operate under U.S. regulations, including Know Your Customer identity verifications.
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Supporting Solana
The new marketplace takes on a number of standalone competitors, most notably NFT leader OpenSea, as well as Solana-specific marketplaces like Solanart and DigitalEyes.
While FTX NFT launched first on the Solana blockchain — a competitor to Ethereum, the dominant blockchain for non-fungible tokens — the exchange plans to roll out support for Ethereum-based NFTs soon.
FTX US is the U.S.-regulated sibling of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, a leading cryptocurrency exchange that is the fifth-highest rated spot market under CoinMarketCap’s exchange rating system.
A strong supporter of Solana, FTX mogul Sam Bankman-Fried was recently called the richest person in crypto by the Forbes 400, which put his net worth at $22.5 billion.
