Coinbase NFT Puts a Pause on Creator Drops
- Coinbase has announced that its NFT platform will no longer support new creator NFT drops.
- The company is now focusing on “other features and tools” within the NFT platform to help its creators and users.
- Data shows that the all-time trading volume on Coinbase NFT stands at 4,454 ether (ETH), which is close to $7 million.
- The exchange debuted a new tool this week to help its customers recover 4,000+ unsupported ERC-20 tokens that were sent to its ledger.
The largest crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase, has announced that its NFT platform will no longer support new creator NFT drops as the firm is focused on introducing new features to its platform that are in heavy demand among creators. Ever since its inception last year, the exchange’s NFT platform has failed to attract attention from industry players and institutions alike amid a bearish market and a decreasing appetite for non-fungible tokens.
There were rumors of the decentralized company closing down Coinbase NFT, but the exchange confirmed that it is not doing so. In a series of Twitter posts, the company stated that “we are pausing creator Drops on the NFT marketplace to focus on other features and tools that creators have asked for.” This comes at a time when the crypto market is gradually recovering from the damage caused by the collapse of major crypto companies like FTX and Celsius Network.
“To be clear: We are not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace,” confirmed the exchange.
The firm’s decision of shutting down creator drops confirms a significant drop in the demand of NFTs due to many rug pulls and scams. Moreover, people have also questioned their impact on the environment and if they have any value at all. It is crucial to note that Coinbase NFT partner Jessica Yatrofsky, stated in a Twitter post that her upcoming NFT collection won’t be available on the Coinbase NFT marketplace because she was “privately informed that [the] marketplace was shutting down.”
The exchange replied to her post by stating that “we’re pausing Drops for now to focus on other areas within Coinbase NFT, but we’re not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace.”
It is also crucial to note that, as per Dune Analytics, the all-time trading volume for the Coinbase NFT marketplace stands at 4,454 ether (ETH), which is close to $7 million. However, compared to the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, which saw 306,645 ETH in trading volume in the month of January, the numbers are very small.
On the other hand, Coinbase debuted a new tool this week that will help its customers recover more than 4,000 unsupported ERC-20 tokens that were sent to its ledger.
“It’s been a pain point for customers who sent ERC-20 tokens to a Coinbase receive address,” said Will Robinson, VP of engineering at the crypto exchange. “When people accidentally sent these assets, they were effectively stuck up until this point.”
The US-based exchange has been facing a tough period and reported losses in three consecutive quarters in 2022. Moreover, as per an earlier report from BitcoinWisdom, Coinbase has also shut down operations in Japan due to “market conditions,” adding that the company plans to “conduct a complete review of our business in the country.”
Moreover, the exchange also laid off an additional 900 employees in 2023 after firing 18% of its workforce in 2022, despite Bitcoin (BTC) reclaiming the $20,000 price level and altcoins gaining strength.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
