🌌 Coinbase launches long-awaited social NFT marketplace in limited beta, just as NFT sales dive

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase today announced that its NFT marketplace is officially live in a limited-access beta launch, six months after it officially announced its long-teased plans.

Coinbase NFT platform is now available to select users added from the waitlist, which has amassed millions of prospective members since October announcement. According to the exchange, it will add users in the order of signup, with plans to add everyone in the “coming weeks.”

There’s also a “Shop” tab that beta testers can visit to purchase NFTs. Currently, the marketplace only supports the Ethereum blockchain, and beta users log in using a wallet like the one Coinbase offers or MetaMask. While the company has said that Coinbase NFT will support Mastercard in the future, prices are currently only listed in ETH.

Recently the trading volume and the number of traders on the top marketplaces have almost universally decreased in the past month. OpenSea, the largest NFT shop, has around 67 percent fewer trades compared to what it had in March and 23 percent fewer traders. And while search interest in NFTs rose between October, 2021, and January, 2022, it’s since declined back to around normal levels.

Coinbase announced its NFT marketplace in October and says that there are a variety of seemingly essential features that aren’t in the current beta. Minting, NFTs on other blockchains (OpenSea has preliminary support for Polygon and Solana), and even the ability to purchase the tokens with your Coinbase account or credit card are all currently planned for the “coming weeks and months.” It’s also, of course, not accessible to everyone right now. The company says it’s going to work through the waitlist, where people are ranked in part by how many others they’ve gotten to join the waitlist.

At launch, Coinbase does not offer the ability to mint NFTs through the platform, but that feature is coming. Furthermore, Coinbase also plans to host new NFT project drops via the marketplace, including some created by its various launch partners.