Online auction and trading platform eBay is opening up the buying and selling of NFT tokens on its platform, bringing the potential of the crypto industry to its more than 180 million users.
EBay, one of the pioneering and leading digital platforms in online commerce and auction worldwide, has just announced that the purchase and sale of non-fungible tokens (NFT) is now available on its platform. With this, eBay takes a big step towards crypto adoption, opening the doors to the trading of crypto collectibles, digital art, tokenized images and objects, and much more, to its 180 million active users worldwide; who can begin to explore the potential of the crypto industry.
eBay's announcement, shared by Reuters, comes less than two weeks after its CEO, Jamie Iannone, reported during a interview on CNBC that the marketplace was considering offering support for the sale of non-fungible tokens legally. In addition to this, Iannone also noted that eBay was exploring new opportunities in the cryptocurrencies, , and that it was possible for the digital platform to accept payments in bitcoin and other assets coming soon.
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If it's trending, it's on eBay
eBay CEO Iannone said that if something was trending in the world, it simply “appears on eBay.” The online trading platform has become known as a meeting point for millions of collectors around the world looking to get their hands on collectibles.
Since NFTs were created to enable the creation of unique and exclusive objects, such as collectibles, they should be on eBay, Iannone told CNBC, as non-fungible tokens fit perfectly with the vision with which the platform was born.
The popularity of NFTs, which has skyrocketed since the end of 2020, has also led to a further growth in demand for these digital assets. EBay therefore intends to offer a platform, which millions of users are already familiar with, to buy and sell NFTs easily, quickly and safely.
Trade and future expansion plans
According to the report presented by Reuters, eBay will initially focus on trading and auctioning sports and video game trading cards, images, and video clips. Although the company plans to expand the NFT categories in the future, to allow trading and auctioning of a wider range of products related to the crypto industry.
eBay also said it will provide an inventory of NFTs to sellers who meet the platform’s standards, and that in the future it will implement new programs, policies and tools that facilitate the buying and selling of non-fungible tokens; it even plans to bring entire collections of NFTs to its platform in the coming months.
On the other hand, eBay did not provide further details regarding the fees it will charge for using its platform to trade NFTs. The company only explained that users of the platform will be able to view the NFTs for free, and that the buyer of a non-fungible token will be the one who has the status of “official owner”, which will allow them to “brag” about the possession of their digital piece.
Payments in ethers or dollars
Although eBay did not talk about cryptocurrency payments, the platform is expected to support ether, the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum, for NFT payments. Most non-fungible token purchases and sales happen in ETH or dollars, so it is expected that eBay will include cryptocurrency soon. According to Iannone, cryptocurrency payments are one of the innovative options that the platform is currently exploring.
EBay has already made some forays into the crypto world before. At the end of November, the platform He launched a Bitcoin rewards program that rewarded its users with free bitcoins for making purchases through this platform.
NFTs seduce Merriam-Webster
The American publisher Merriam-Webster, which publishes reference books and dictionaries, is also joining the NFT trend. On Tuesday, the publisher announced the opening of an auction on the marketplace OpenSea, next Friday, May 14, to offer its first NFT. The publisher tokenized nothing less than its definition of “non-fungible token” in blockchain.
Merriam-Webster’s NFT already has a bid worth 5 ETH, which is equivalent to about $20.500 USD at the time of writing.
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