Amid the immense growth in the non-fungible token market, leading Singapore-based crypto exchange AAX is planning to launch its own NFT marketplace in the “near future,” according to a press release shared with Forkast.News.
Fast facts
- In preparation for the launch, AAX is running a campaign in which its users can auction NFTs for charity and have a chance to win themed NFTs after trading. The exchange is collaborating with a yet-to-be-disclosed NFT artist who will be minting a series of NFTs in time for the launch.
- “The total market cap for NFTs is unfathomable. We are taking a small step forward but opening the NFT world to more users, and encouraging artists to try the new formats of work,” said Toya Zhang, COO of AAX.
- With the launch, AAX joins a growing list of crypto exchanges to launch their own NFT marketplace recently, including Binance, Japanese-owned Coincheck, Hong Kong-based Crypto.com, and Binance-owned, India-based WazirX.
- NFTs allow ownership to be ascribed to a unique digital asset and have seen an explosion in growth recently. The marketplace OpenSea recently topped the transaction volume leader board on Ethereum, overtaking DeFi platform Uniswap which had long been the primary gas guzzler on the network. The platform’s ETH fees grew by more than 10 times in the two weeks before Aug. 10 when it hit a record 913 ETH, but after a short dip exploded again yesterday to reach a new high of 1723 ETH.
- This growth has largely been driven by a dramatic surge of interest in the NFT series CryptoPunks this week as payments giant Visa bought one NFT for 49.50 ETH, or around US$150,000. Sales of CryptoPunks increased over 1,100% in the 24 hours following the announcement according to data from DappRadar, overtaking NFT-based play-to-earn game Axie Infinity in the process.
- OpenSea recently delisted an NFT project based on the popular Pepe the Frog meme called “Sad Frogs District” after receiving notification to take it down from the original creator of Pepe, leading to significant losses for people already invested in the project. While NFTs guarantee authentic ownership of a particular digital asset, this was an example of NFTs being minted of works without the consent of the original creator.