Best NFT Marketplaces for Beginners
Best NFT Marketplaces
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) demonstrate a skyrocketing growth, which means that here, your lucky ticket could be hidden. So, if you are ready to jump in but don’t know what marketplace to choose for your first steps, this article will answer all your questions.
In this article, we'll discuss what an NFT marketplace is and how to choose it. Here, we will also compare OpenSea, Axie Marketplace, and Decentraland based on a variety of parameters, from the level of decentralization, popularity, and crypto wallets they support to issues associated with these platforms. Moreover, we'll investigate what NFT marketplaces fit the needs of different types of investors and expertise. Let's start.
What is an NFT Marketplace?
Before looking for the top NFT marketplace, let’s discuss what an NFT marketplace is.
Generally, it is a platform to serve NFT deals. Although all such marketplaces claim a wide variety of NFT collections and low fees, these features actually differ from one marketplace to another.
The key question here is how to choose the best NFT platform for your needs.
How to Choose an NFT Marketplace?
Key differences between different marketplaces are the following:
- The blockchain they use
- The fee they collect
- The variety of NFT collections they suggest
- Crypto wallets they support
- The level of centralization
Let’s investigate how to select the best NFT sites for different types of investors.
Top NFT Marketplace for Beginners
Usually, a novice investor doesn’t invest much in NFTs from the very beginning and for such investors, the fee size matters. Etherium-driven NFT marketplaces are the most popular on the market; they collect higher fees, though. If you are looking for more affordable marketplaces, pay attention to the marketplaces that run on Solana or Polygon blockchain.
Best Place to Buy NFTs for Advanced Investors
Being an advanced investor, you are looking for marketplaces with bigger collections, where it's possible to choose from a variety of options or go to specific ones if you are an expert there.
The next point of your attention could be the level of the NFT marketplace centralization. First of all, it's important to understand that all the NFT marketplaces are somehow centralized regardless of being run on a blockchain. What does it mean? First, like Facebook governs all the activities on its platform (allows users to join or show up any activity), NFT marketplaces can do this in their field. Second, with ownership rights kept on top of a blockchain, NFTs (especially for big-sized arts) can be stored off-chain. This means that if any problems with NFTs occur, it can just disappear regardless of your ownership right.
And last, regardless of the NFT marketplace you choose, don't forget about the possible scammers who can operate through different platforms. They create accounts, sell NFTs, but after the approved purchase and money transfer, the NFT disappears from your account. Indeed, marketplaces can suspend such accounts but, unfortunately, only when the transaction is done, and a victim complains. So, be attentive and check the reviews for a seller through the Internet.
So, what does it mean for an investor looking for the best NFT marketplace for his needs? The more centralized NFT is, the less reliable it is for investing big money.
Top 3 NFT Marketplaces
Now, it's time to compare the best NFT sites based on their key parameters.
OpenSea
Short description. Being founded in 2017, OpenSea became the first and the largest NFT marketplace. And still, it remains the most popular one.
Marketplace blockchain. Ethereum
Supported blockchains. Apart from Ethereum, OpenSea supports Polygon, and Klatyn.
Supported crypto wallets. The complete list of the supported crypto wallets includes 14 entities, such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, TrustWallet, Portis, Fortmatic/Magic, Venly, Authereum, Bitski, Dapper, Kaikas, OperaTouch, Torus, WalletConnect, and WalletLink.
Currencies. There are three major currencies, such as Ethereum (ETH)/WETH, USDC, and DAI, but generally, the platform supports more than 150 cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, fiat payments are still absent.
Fee. 2.5% from every transaction
The number of NFT collections. 2+ million
The number of NFTs. 80+ million
Trading volume since launch, according to DappRadar (as of February 13, 2021). $20.75 billion
Centralization. High.
The number of users. 600K+
Issues. The platform has multiple technical bugs, with the website downtimes during the day. However, the most annoying one is that for hot collections, sometimes, you can't see NFTs that are already sold. As a result, you may sell your NFT at a lower price because you just don't know that the market has changed.
Verdict. Being the biggest NFT platform, OpenSea is the best NFT marketplace for most investors looking for mass-market opportunities.
Axie Marketplace
Short description. Axie Marketplace was founded in 2018 as an official marketplace to sell and buy NFTs created in the video game Axie Infinity (Axie digital pets). Since you need to have at least three pets to start playing the game, the popularity of Axie Marketplace increases.
Marketplace blockchain. Ethereum
Supported blockchains. Ethereum
Supported crypto wallets. MetaMask
Currencies. Ethereum (ETH)
Fee. 4.25% from every transaction
The number of NFT collections. One
The number of NFTs. 270 million
Trading volume since launch, according to DappRadar (as of February 13, 2021). $4.11 billion
Centralization. Average
The number of users. 9,900K+
Issues. The major bug at Axie Marketplace is an error appearing while a user claims the purchased SLP's (Smooth Love Potions). This problem arises when the platform is overcrowded, and the system cannot efficiently maintain all the transactions.
Verdict. Axie Marketplace is the best NFT platform to buy and sell Axies.
Decentraland
Short description. Founded in 2020, Decentraland is a virtual one-stop-shop for selling and buying NFTs associated with metaverse, i.e., you can find any entities existing in the real world but transformed into the crypto space.
Marketplace blockchain. Ethereum
Supported blockchains. Ethereum and Polygon
Supported crypto wallets. Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask
Currencies. MANA
Fee. 2.5% from every transaction
The number of NFT collections. NA
The number of NFTs. NA
Trading volume since launch, according to DappRadar (as of February 13, 2021). $0.13 billion
Centralization. Average
The number of users. 300K+
Issues. Actually, when comparing the problems of OpenSea, Axie Marketplace, and Decentraland reported by users, the latter has the lowest number of issue mentions. Most of them are just small things like delays in the item status changes or so.
Verdict. Decentraland is the best place to buy NFTs if you believe in the development and growth of metaverse and crypto space.
Conclusion
If you consider NFTs a good asset for investment, choosing the best NFT marketplace is the next step for you. There are dozens on the market, with different types of NFT collections and deal conditions. So, it could be better for you to concentrate on a certain kind of NFT and choose the top NFT marketplace accordingly. For instance, if you are looking for the best art NFT marketplace, choose between OpenSea and Foundation. If you are an expert in Axies, Axie Marketplace can become a good choice for you. For people investing in the metaverse, Decentraland can become a good option.
FAQ
Which NFT Marketplace is Best?
Depending on your needs, you can choose from OpenSea, Axie Infinity, and Decentraland.
What is the Largest NFT Market?
With a total trading volume of $20.75 billion as of February 13, 2021, OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace.
Is OpenSea the Best NFT Marketplace?
If you are looking for the most popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea is the best NFT marketplace for you. However, if you need some specific types of NFTs, looking for lower commissions or so, other NFT marketplaces can match your needs better.
Stay tuned for further updates, crypto guides, and market insights from LetsExchange. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, Quora, Telegram, Steemit, and Bitcointalk for first-hand information from our team.