Coinbase Rolls Out Fresh NFT Features Amidst Its Struggles
- Coinbase said it is investing less than 10% of its budget on NFTs.
- There are mixed opinions about the upgrade.
Struggling cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has announced plans to roll out new features for its NFT. The platform’s NFT community is not as renowned as its trading userbase. However, it appears that the crypto exchange is planning to build on that aspect of its services.
Coinbase NFT marketplace had its beta launch in early May and since then, it has undergone a series of improvements. Some of the new features added include a “Liked” tab, a “Bulk Manage” functionality, a notification hub, and an insight page. Users now have the ability to edit list prices.
Coinbase also included a “Following” feed as part of its upgrade. Users can also connect up to 10 different wallets to a single Coinbase NFT account.
How is Coinbase’s NFTs Performing?
The NFT space is highly competitive and while Coinbase is relatively new to the space, it has managed to rack up a few figures. Reports state that the platform’s NFT marketplace has had a series of activities since it debuted 2 months ago. Coinbase NFT’s marketplace has reportedly seen 8,202 unique buyers and sellers. In addition, the platform has had about 20,765 transactions. Coinbase NFT marketplace has had a total volume of about $2.9 million, which is about1,468 ETH.
Coinbase is miles away from competing with Opensea, the industry’s leader. The foremost NFT market reportedly had a volume of about $15.6 million on Thursday. Opensea has one of the busiest NFT marketplaces.
Despite the general crypto bear market which resulted in Coinbase laying off some of its workers and retracting offers, the platform’s foray into the NFT space seems noteworthy. However, not everyone is convinced that this was the right step. Opinions on Twitter showed that users had varying sentiments about Coinbase’s NFT marketplace. Some even accused the crypto exchange of data theft. However, Coinbase strongly refuted such claims.
Regardless of the different opinions, the company’s current priority is developing its product after which it will roll out monetization plans. Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, previously expressed his delight in the progress his firm has made in its NFT ambitions. Brian further remarked that the crypto exchange would make more investments in that line.
Although Coinbase has seen a drop in its trading volumes, experts believe the platform has what it takes to survive. According to Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau, Coinbase’s position as a leader in the crypto market gives it a high chance of survival. Speaking on Coinbase’s survival, Lau said,
To be sure, it is a challenging period for [Coinbase] and the industry. But we believe the use cases for blockchain and digital assets are much more than simply trading, longer-term. [Coinbase] is likely to survive through this crisis and come out stronger on the other side, we believe.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
