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0 CommentsMajor cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced plans to introduce an NFT trading marketplace. Kraken CEO noted the rising popularity of Metaverse NFTs like virtual property and digital items; however, he did not suggest a date by which the service may be launched. Other big exchanges, such as Binance, Coinbase, and FTX, have already introduced their own NFT marketplaces or plans to do so.
Jesse Powell, Kraken founder and CEO, has revealed that his exchange will soon support non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“We’re working on an NFT platform right now to give investors exposure to the burgeoning NFT market,” Powell told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
Powell also drew attention to the “tremendous amount of activity recently around NFTs … related to various Metaverses.” He noted that this category includes NFTs for virtual worlds, such as land parcels, digital clothing, and proof-of-membership tokens.
This includes projects from Metaverse-focused companies like Meta and The Sandbox as well as from partners like Pepsi and Adidas.
“We think this is going to get to be a bigger and bigger thing and … we want to be in front of that for people,” Powell said. However, he did not suggest a date by which the service may be launched.
Back in September, Kraken published a research report suggesting that NFTs were responsible for 49% of gas burnt, making them the “main attraction on Ethereum.” It also recently published a broader overview of the technology.
Other major crypto exchanges have previously taken advantage of NFT trading. FTX launched its own NFT marketplace in October and expanded to support Ethereum NFTs this month. Binance, meanwhile, introduced its own NFT marketplace in June. Coinbase has also announced an upcoming NFT marketplace with more than 1.5 million users enrolled as of October. Huobi also launched a trial for its own NFT platform in November.
If Kraken succeeds in launching an NFT marketplace, it will be among the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world to do so. Kraken handled $1.4 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, making it the ninth-largest exchange by that metric.
