Everything NFT Marketplaces! eBay, Gucci, & Magic Eden making moves!

Welcome back readers, bit of a theme this edition as we take a look at stories from NFT marketplaces that have dominated the news cycle.

eBay Buys NFT Marketplace KnownOrigin

Global commerce goliath eBay has recently acquired NFT marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed amount. eBay's CEO, Jamie Lannone, said “eBay is the first stop for people across the globe who are searching for that perfect, hard-to-find, or unique addition to their collection and, with this acquisition, we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles,”. KnownOrigin is a marketplace enabling the platform for artists and collectors to create, buy and resell NFTs. Since its launch in 2018, KnownOrigin has facilitated $7.8 million in trade volume, and according to Jamie, “KnownOrigin has built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers". With an acquisition like this, it is obvious that eBay sees the Web3.0 future, and is evolving to meet the change. This acquisition brings us one step closer to mass NFT adoption, and as eBay CEO Jamie says “This partnership will help us attract a new wave of NFT creators and collectors".

Gucci Showing Intrest In NFT Marketplace

Gucci is taking another step into Web3.0 as they look to participate in a more “interconnected and decentralized economy” with an investment of sorts into the NFT marketplace SuperRare. Gucci has brought $25k worth of RARE tokens and joined the SuperRareDAO. ADAO is a decentralized autonomous organization, which is essentially a community-led entity with no central authority, facilitated by the blockchain. With Gucci joining the SuperRareDAO, they have been given some governance rights within the SuperRare community that oversees key platform parameters and handles the Community Treasury. Gucci Vault CEO Nicolas Oudinot told CoinDesk “We were fascinated by SuperRare’s ability to provide artists with a platform to showcase their work in an innovative way, one that is built on a sense of community and that enhances interactions and decentralization as key tools to support both artists and collectors". SuperRare co-founder Jonathan Perkins says “they're going to be working with artists and selling art through their space, which will be powered by SuperRare technology.”. This comes after Gucci recently started accepting Crypto in some US retail stores, showing evidence of yet another legacy company looking to embrace what the Web3.0 future is bringing.

Shopify Adding NFT-gated Access To Online Shopping

Shopify is an absolute online shopping giant with over a billion orders through its platform that gives entrepreneurs the ability to easily start an E-commerce website. Now Shopify has added the new feature of NFT-gated storefronts, allowing people who hold certain NFTs to access exclusive shopping experiences which could be things like early access to items, to rewards and benefits. Not only is Shopify about to further the accessibility and utility of NFTs in online shopping, but are also adding in real-life NFT-gating experiences at brick-and-mortar stores enabling businesses to do more with their eligible NFT holders. Shopify has already announced partnerships with the likes of Doodles, World of Women, Cool Cats, and Adam Bomb Squad to create online token-gated storefronts. This is a significant move for the NFT space, as a Web2.0 platform that accounts for $319 billion of global economic activity is now embracing NFTs and opening up a future of possibilities through improved accessibility. As NFTs are often just seen as a picture, Shopify is fostering new utility as we see NFTs be used more easily as keys that unlock online perks.

Solana NFT Marketplace Magic Edens $1.6 Billion Valuation

Big week for NFT marketplaces, and the next story comes from Magic Eden which is the leading NFT marketplace on Solana, and has recently closed $130 million of Series B investment funding after a $1.6 billion valuation. We recently reported in June how Solana had just surpassed $2 billion in all-time NFT sales, so this valuation is pretty huge and shows the conviction that investors have in the future of Solana traded NFTs. Magic Eden has quickly grown since its inception in September 2021, with the marketplace seeing over 92% of all the NFT volume on Solana, and receiving an average of 22 million unique sessions per month with over 40,000 NFTs traded daily according to Finsmes. The company fosters this trade with the goal to define the future of NFTs by supporting the next generation of digital creators and introducing the next million users to Web3.0. If you were curious, marketplace OpenSea was valued at $13 billion back in January of 2022, with Ethereum-based NFTs just passing $25 billion in all-time sales in June. These valuations of NFT Marketplaces show a lot of promise for the future, considering the low NFT all-time sales numbers are relative to the valuations, which just further cements how early this space currently is, and the amount of exciting growth we are about to have.

Thanks for clocking in, some big moves in the NFT world as we see marketplaces laying the foundation for the future. As always, we are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday for our next edition of Morning NFTea.

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None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.