Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is launching its own NFT marketplace

Non-fungible token (NFT) is the craze these days. NFT is a hot new trend that has taken the internet by storm. Today, the total sales of NFT tokens soared to more than $2 billion in the first quarter, according to NonFungible.com, a website that tracks data on NFTs. Surprisingly, the impact of NFT on the environment did little to slow down NFT sales.

As we reported earlier, NFTs are digital art that represents a unique digital asset with ownership stored as tokens on the blockchain network. NFT assets can either be entirely digital assets or tokenized versions of real-world assets. Because NFTs are not interchangeable with each other, they may function as proof of authenticity and ownership within the digital realm, for example as proof of the authenticity of rare art.

Now Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, wants to cash in and gets its own piece of the pie in the lucrative NFT business. Today, Binance revealed plans to introduce its own marketplace where users can create, buy and sell digital collector’s items known as NFTs. Binance said its crypto exchange platform would operate two markets: a premium venue for top auctions and exhibitions and a standard trading market that anyone can use to mint new tokens.

According to the announcement, Binance will take a 10% cut from the proceeds of the premium segment, with 90% going to artists. The day-to-day trading market will charge a 1% “processing fee,” while creators “will continuously receive 1% royalty.”

“Our aim is to provide the largest NFT trading platform in the world with the best minting, buying and exchanging experience, by leveraging the fastest and cheapest solutions powered by Binance blockchain infrastructure and community,” said Helen Hai, head of Binance’s NFT project.

In our piece about why NFTs are harmful and bad for the environment, the vast majority of NFT tokens were built using one of two Ethereum token standards (ERC-721 and ERC-1155) which are also governed by various standard frameworks. Since NFTs are created on the Ethereum network, minting new NFT (NFT drop), uses the “Proof of Work” process which is the principal cause of high energy requirements.