You might noticed that during the last few years, investors’ interest in buying digital art objects as tokens has decreased a bit lately. This is most likely because some hyped projects, like the funny monkeys from Bored Ape Yacht Club/Mutant Ape Yacht Club, which in 2022 cost 100-150 ETH and more, have fallen in price by hundreds of thousands of times.
Of course, this does not mean that this type of digital asset should be avoided – rather, it is worth remembering that you have to apply some rules to any investment objects. Specifically, one of these rules is the correct choice of website, which will provide you with all the necessary tools and analytics about the specific asset so that you can assess all the possible investment risks. As for creators, the right decision in favor of one or another platform to sell NFT will help ensure good visibility of their works and quickly raise money for them. Actually, Coinband experts will talk about the most popular NFT platforms below.
Overview of Non-Fungible Tokens and the Importance of NFT Websites
Do you know that the global NFT market is projected to grow from USD 21.39 billion in 2023 to USD 212 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 33.7%?
Generally speaking, the concept of non-fungible tokens first caused a public outcry in 2017, giving crypto enthusiasts the opportunity to become legal owners of digitized art objects (songs, paintings, photographs, videos, and even tweets). In particular, this year, the first NFTs emerged – they were based on the Ethereum blockchain. From that moment on, the concept of non-fungibility began to be actively promoted by crypto bloggers and thematic media, and by 2021, only the lazy did not consider the prospects of buying or creating digital art objects themselves.
A landmark event was the transfer of ownership rights to Banksy's painting "Morons" by a group of crypto enthusiasts, which was burned and sold as a token for a record $393,000 (or 228 ETH at the exchange rate at the time of purchase). After that, such prominent figures as the singer Grimes, who sold her collection of 10 digital art pieces for $5.8 million in 2021, Paris Hilton, whose collection of three works brought in more than $1.1 million also in 2021, and many others have tried to repeat and even surpass the Banksy's work success.
However, along with successful cases, there were also failures, such as the monkeys we wrote about at the very beginning of this article. So how can investors protect themselves from dubious purchases and find hidden gems with 100x or even more potential? And, speaking of creators, how can they ensure a stable increase in the external value of their digital pieces of art?
In both cases, NFT sales platforms play an important role in this. The fact is that many of them allow placing absolutely any unique token (which, in turn, makes them overcrowded by pieces of art), preventing the ideal meeting of artists and their works’ buyers from happening. At the same time, only a few are aimed at providing real assistance both to investors and creators. So, let's cover this aspect in more detail in the next paragraph.
Why Choosing the Right NFT Platform Matters in 2024
There are obvious reasons to act wisely when choosing the best place to sell NFT or buy it. For artists, this means searching for a platform with convenient tools for listing their art and withdrawing funds from their sales. For investors, this means choosing a solution with intuitive analytical tools and a convenient catalog that allows them to quickly find the most attractive object for purchase. And, of course, don’t forget about its reliability as it is important for all parties to a possible transaction. This means that each item from your NFT market list should have an impeccable reputation.
Top NFT Marketplaces for Digital Art
Let’s check the most convenient, reliable, and intuitive solutions providing their users with rich capabilities to buy, trade, and sell digital art objects.
Most Popular NFT Marketplaces
There are three top NFT platforms that are on everyone’s lips. Let’s consider them in detail.
#1. OpenSea – Top NFT Marketplace
OpenSea is the biggest NFT trading platform founded in 2017. It operates on the principles of a decentralized community: cryptocurrency wallets, addresses, and assets are controlled by users. It supports Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn Blockchain, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Optimism, and Solana blockchains. You can buy NFTs with any ERC-20 tokens or using your debit or credit card (in this case, the MoonPay service will help you). The standard OpenSea transaction fee of 2.5% is charged to the seller and deducted from the deal price.
#2. Rarible – NFTs for Sale and Purchase
Rarible is another well-known platform that brings together those who want to craft and buy digital art based on non-fungible tokens. This platform supports multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Immutable X, and Flow which expands its accessibility and usefulness. Rarible charges a 1% commission from both buyers and sellers. What sets this platform apart from many others is its royalty feature, which allows artists to integrate the ability to collect royalties directly into the NFT (thus, they can earn up to 50%).
#3. Binance NFT
Binance NFT is an NFT and mystery box marketplace for artists, creators, and crypto enthusiasts with a 1% fee. Here, you can issue NFTs and their collections based on the BNB Chain and Ethereum blockchains. In addition to trading and selling, you can launch initial offerings (INOs), stake NFTs, and even get loans with NFTs as collateral (this feature will be released very soon). There are currently over 225,000,000 unique registered users on this platform.
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Biggest NFT Trading Platforms
If you would like to register on the platform with the biggest number of users, check the next two.
#4. SuperRare – Top NFT Market
SuperRare's core activity is selling very rare pieces of digital art. The platform is one of the most conceptual communities and is selective in the works it lists. That's why all NFTs in this marketplace are in high demand and have a potentially high foreign market value. This solution is based on the Ethereum blockchain, with all purchases and bids made using ETH. At the same time, there is no option to freely mint tokens here – to unlock it, a creator needs to join the team by filling out an application and waiting for the moderation results.
#5. Nifty Gateway – The Best NFT Website
Nifty Gateway is a marketplace with a 5% fee founded in 2018, which, unlike most of its peers, focuses on the quality of works rather than their quantity. Most often, the works listed here are NFTs from famous artists who have proved themselves in the crypto space (in particular, you can find here Beeple's works). Such a strict selection of lots allows the Nifty Gateway to present itself as an authoritative dealer in the field of contemporary art.
Best NFT Marketplace for Artists
Finally, let’s overview three the most popular NFT sites that are worth the attention of each digital artist.
#6. Foundation – Most Popular NFT Market
Foundation is an NFT art platform based on the popular Ethereum blockchain, where you need to get an invitation to become a creator. The project is a digital place for artists and crypto enthusiasts to communicate and sell/buy unique digital items. Here you can craft NFT-based works of art and sell them to collectors. The commission for a successful transaction here is quite high and amounts to 5%. Also, for Drops and Editions, there is a 0.0008 ETH per mint fee.
#7. KnownOrigin – NFT Art Site
KnownOrigin is a community-driven, multimedia decentralized platform that uses Ethereum blockchain allowing creators to tokenize their works of art as digital assets in the digital art space. That’s why KnownOrigin is considered the best choice for photographers, artists, and designers. When a transaction is completed, a 15% fee is charged on its total amount. Further, an additional 2.5% fee is charged for all ongoing secondary sales.
#8. Mintable – NFT Marketplace
Mintable is one of the main services for crafting, buying, and selling non-fungible tokens, founded in 2018. The platform is popular among creators and collectors of non-fungible tokens due to its decentralization and advanced functionality. Mintable supports work with the Ethereum and Immutable X blockchains (by the way, in the IMX blockchain, transactions are executed faster and without network fees). On Mintable, you can set Royalties (percentages to the author from resales) up to 90%. This NFT marketplace also adheres to a policy of protection against theft of intellectual property, checking each new token for uniqueness.
Tabular Comparison of the Top NFT Marketplaces
Let’s compare all aforementioned NFT art platforms according to several key criteria.
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How to Choose the Best NFT Marketplace
In this paragraph, we propose you consider five criteria to find the best platform for NFT art.
- Fees. This is probably the main criterion for choosing the best NFT platform for artists and investors. Considering that the vast majority of marketplaces offer fees in the range of 2-3%, you can also try to find those that provide even cheaper transactions on digital art objects.
- Blockchain support. The majority of existing platforms are based on the Ethereum blockchain. However, there are also some that are based on Solana or even combine several blockchains, making multichain transactions possible.
- Community engagement. A large and active community of an NFT art marketplace almost always indicates its reliability and good reputation. This may also mean that the NFT marketplace offers additional bonus programs to its participants.
- Safety. Popular NFT sites to sell and buy non-fungible tokens usually are well-protected and can prevent typical hacker attacks on user wallets. However, ultimately, much depends on whether the platform is centralized or decentralized – the former are usually more reliable.
- Variety of tools. Unfortunately, many popular NFT marketplaces do not provide artists with convenient minting tools, and investors – with clear and easy-to-navigate catalogs. Therefore, before registering on a specific one, check whether its interface seems intuitive.
NFT Marketplaces to Watch in 2024
Finally, let’s highlight the three NFT digital art platforms to look out for this year:
- LooksRare. It is a community-first platform based on Ethereum. LooksRare actively rewards traders, collectors, and creators for participating. As for fees, the platform collects a basic sales fee of 2% on all sales (private sales are carried out here without any fees at all).
- Solanart. Solanart is a large NFT marketplace that allows its users to create and buy NFTs on the Solana blockchain with a 3% fee. Launched in 2021, Solanaart provides its users with a user-friendly Sollet wallet, Sollet Chrome extension, and Phantom.
- Airnfts. It is a multichain NFT art trading platform based on Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, Ethereum, and Polygon blockchains. It was launched in 2021 and, currently, it offers one of the lowest fees – approximately USD 0.70 for minting. For now, this marketplace has minted 110,000+ unique tokens.
Conclusion
Now, with a complete guide to choosing the best NFT platform for art creators at hand, you can make an informed choice in favor of one or another option. Also, if you have your own NFT project and are planning to promote it, you can contact Coinband experts to develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy and bring it to life.
FAQs about the Crypto NFT Platform
What is an NFT marketplace?
It is a digital platform where participants can buy, sell, resell, and sometimes craft non-fungible tokens.
What are the best NFT platforms for beginners?
There are several reliable solutions whose functionality is adapted to beginners (both creators and investors): OpenSea, Rarible, and Binance NFT.
Can I use credit cards to buy NFTs?
OpenSea, Rarible, Binance NFT, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, Foundation, KnownOrigin, and Mintable allow their users to buy items with their credit cards.
Which NFT platforms have the lowest fees?
The leading NFT platforms, such as Binance NFT, OpenSea, Mintable, and Nifty Gateway, have the lowest fees (on average, it is about 2.5% only).
What is the largest NFT marketplace?
OpenSea is the largest NFT platform for artists and investors with its over 2.5 mln users worldwide.
Are there free NFT marketplaces?
OpenSea, Rarible, Binance NFT, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, Foundation, KnownOrigin, and Mintable are absolutely free to register.
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