Top NFT Marketplaces in 2022 – Forbes Advisor Australia

Open sea

OpenSea is ancient by NFT standards, having launched in 2017, and it is also among the largest NFT marketplaces active today. It hosts many popular NFTs, including art, music, photography, trading cards, and virtual worlds.

The core cryptocurrencies used on OpenSea are Ethereum, Solana and USDC, and payment options have other cryptos. Just note that you cannot use fiat currencies such as AUD or US dollars.

On the bright side, OpenSea is very user-friendly for beginners. You can create an account for free within minutes and start browsing NFTs immediately, and you can even create NFTs on their platform.

For costs, OpenSea charges a fee equivalent to 2.5% of each transaction. You also have to pay the “gas fee” to complete NFT transactions with Ethereum. Gas fees are the transaction fees paid to miners.

If you want to avoid the gas tax, you can buy and sell NFTs with Polygon. But you must ensure that the NFT item of interest displays the Polygon logo.

In short, OpenSea is a solid choice for beginners who want to get started with a simple marketplace and want as many options as possible for NFTs.

CoinSpot

Founded as an Australian cryptocurrency exchange in 2013, CoinSpot changed its offerings to include an NFT marketplace in its platform in March this year. To date, it has more than 30 different collections of more than 400,000 individual NFTs available for buying, selling and trading on the marketplace.

Speaking to Forbes Advisor, Tim Wilks, head of business development and partnerships at CoinSpot, said the company “undertakes a rigorous due diligence process to ensure that all NFTs listed on the market are legitimate and belong to verified collections”.

CoinSpot markets itself as the lowest priced NFT marketplace for Australians. On its website, it says it charges a flat service fee of 0.9%. A gas tax will also apply, depending on market activity.

Wilks adds that, unlike other marketplaces, CoinSpot offers more than 350 cryptocurrencies that users can pay with. While CoinSpot does not (yet) offer credit or debit card payments, you can add Australian dollars from a card to your CoinSpot wallet for a 2.58% transaction fee. There is then a 0.1% market fee when placing cryptocurrency market orders, and no fee for AUD withdrawals.

CoinSpot’s user-friendly interface, extensive cryptocurrency selection and 24/7 customer support make it the “ideal choice for Australians looking to access the NFT market”, Wilks says.

Rare

Rarible allows users to buy and sell art, collectibles, video game assets and NFTs. You can buy and trade on Rarible with Ethereum, Flow and Tezos.

Rarible charges a flat fee of 2.5% for each transaction, plus any gas fees. A nice feature is that you can buy NFTs using a credit card, which allows transactions in fiat currencies

An interesting aspect of Rarible: instead of internal management deciding everything, Rarible created its own native token called RARI. The holders of RARI get to vote on company decisions such as changes to the company’s policy.

In 2021, Rarible announced a partnership with Adobe to make it easier to verify and protect metadata for digital content, including NFTs.

For those who want access to a large network with solid connections, Rarible may be the best NFT marketplace. At the same time, it also still follows a decentralized way of thinking.

NBA top shot

If you’re a big fan of American basketball, the NBA Top Shot marketplace lets you buy NFTs of big moments in basketball history.

You can purchase video clips, play highlights and art for both the NBA and WNBA. But some of these “moments” don’t come cheap. A LeBron James slam dunk video fetched $208,000 in February 2021.

The NBA built and manages this NFT marketplace and they have exclusive rights to these video clips. In addition, you know that you are dealing with a large, recognized organization.

The NBA Top Shot marketplace is an example of big companies embracing this trend. Others include DraftKing’s Marketplace and the Associated Press’ NFT Marketplace. Even GameStop plans to launch an NFT marketplace this year.

Users can buy Moment NFTs with credit/debit cards or selected cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, DAI or USDC. And, of course, fees are added to the purchase price, whether you buy the iconic moment by credit card or cryptocurrency.

Magical Eden

A new player on the scene is Magic Eden, an NFT marketplace founded by three Australians only last year in 2021. Within nine months, the Aussie tech minds had achieved a valuation of $1.6 billion after raising $130 million dollars in a Series B round co-led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners.

According to the website, Magic Eden currently has more than 8,000 collections and a secondary trading volume of $1.9 billion. Built on the Solana blockchain, the marketplace is reportedly the leading marketplace on Solana.

When choosing to purchase an NFT, Magic Eden users can connect to their external crypto wallets. Initially, Magic Eden only accepted those built on the Solana network; but it has now opened up to Ethereum as well.

Magic Eden takes 2% on all transactions and respects the royalties set by NFT creators, which are charged to the buyer immediately upon purchase.

At the time of writing, minting of NFT collections is not possible for a general user at Magic Eden. Instead, if you are a creator and want to join the platform, you must submit an application to the “Launchpad” program via the website.

Binance

Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, added an NFT marketplace in 2021. The international crypto exchange is one of many other industry players entering the NFT sector, such as Crypto.com NFT, which describes itself as a highly curated NFP- marketplace.

Binance NFT offers the typical digital assets found on other major platforms: artwork, game items, and collectibles.

A big advantage of Binance NFT is that it charges very low fees. The platform only charges a 1% trading fee. It is also a user-friendly platform built using similar technology and setup as their exchange.

As such a major player in the crypto space, Binance also runs on its own blockchain, giving it an added advantage.

Nice gateway

Nifty Gateway is known for hosting expensive and exclusive NFT sales, including digital artist Pak’s “The Merge”, which sold for $91.8 million. It made headlines when the platform was acquired in late 2019 by Gemini, which is run by the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

This marketplace focuses on artwork, especially artwork from celebrities and top artists. To increase demand, Nifty Gateway uses an “open issues” system. When a new type of NFT comes out, you can only buy editions for a limited time.

This marketplace allows you to make purchases with your credit card. Nifty Gateway can be the way to go if you want to make a big investment in NFTs and want access to advanced options.

SuperRare

SuperRare is an advanced NFT art marketplace that positions itself in the NFT ecosystem as an art gallery. This marketplace does not accept “meme style” NFTs and is very selective with NFT submissions.

Given that SuperRare spends so much time evaluating the work before it is available for sale, investors can feel more confident in its quality. For their services, SuperRate takes 15% the first time an NFT is sold on the primary market. There is also a flat 3% of each transaction, which the buyer pays.

SuperRare may be a good choice for someone looking for high-end NFT artwork, especially pieces with a more classic style.