Coinbase NFT

Coinbase NFT Summary

Coinbase NFT is an NFT marketplace from Coinbase, America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and one of the best known in the world. Coinbase NFT’s stated goals for the platform are to “provide the best user experience” for NFT collectors and traders and to increase “social engagement” around the asset class.

Coinbase NFT launched in beta in April 2022 to a select number of users on a waitlist. When it did open it offered a curated selection of NFT collections, including Doodles, World of Women, and Azuki.

Coinbase NFT received just 3,422 users within its first 20 days. This is just 10% of the traffic that leading NFT marketplace OpenSea gets per day, but there were several mitigating factors affecting this, including a massive downturn in the NFT ecosystem at the time.

With 98 million registered users of its cryptocurrency platform and a big reputation in the space, it remains to be seen if Coinbase NFT will replicate the success of its mightily successful cousin.

Coinbase NFT Review

Coinbase NFT is a departure from the structure that typifies NFT marketplaces. Coinbase took inspiration from Instagram and other social media platforms to design Coinbase NFT’s user interface, imbuing it with a strong resemblance to a social media platform. 

With Coinbase NFT, users can discover new NFTs and creators through the “Discover” tab, whose structure is similar to an Instagram feed; users can browse through comments as well as NFTs to find out what others think of an NFT, encouraging discussion of collections and individual pieces. 

The social features of Coinbase’s NFT marketplace could be of immense benefit to new and upcoming creators if its algorithm functions in a manner similar to those of Instagram and, most significantly, TikTok. Unlike massive NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, where a new creator’s NFTs could get lost in the deluge of new NFTs being minted daily, the “Discover” tab could broadcast the NFTs of new creators and help them reach collectors and amass a following.

If implemented well, the Coinbase NFT algorithm could be a gamechanger that truly democratizes wealth creation for artists. Coinbase NFT currently limits users’ ability to mint NFTs, but it plans to announce such a facility “soon”. There are many NFT collections on the platform with thousands per collection, so users have a lot of exploring opportunities open to them while the minting functionality is being readied. 

A list of the hottest NFT collections on the platform is available in the “Trending” tab, simplifying the discovery process for users interested in only the most popular collections.

The push to create a community around the Coinbase NFT platform could be the key that unlocks a new pathway to success for the exchange giant…as long as none of the other bigger exchanges copies this before Coinbase NFT has a chance to prove itself.

What is Coinbase NFT?

Most people who have a loose association with the cryptocurrency space have heard of Coinbase where they may not have heard of other exchanges such as Binance, or even huge NFT exchanges like OpenSea. This shows the clout that Coinbase can bring to bear when it comes to tapping into the nascent NFT market, and indeed it was no surprise when the company announced Coinbase NFT in October 2021.

At the time, Sanchan Saxena, VP of Product at Coinbase, explained the rationale behind Coinbase NFT, saying that it would be “a peer-to-peer marketplace that will make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever”, with the minting process being done in just a few clicks.

The biggest difference between the Coinbase NFT exchange and other NFT exchanges however was certainly its push for “social engagement” around NFTs, with Saxena adding that the platform would “help creators, collectors, and fans build community…by sharing passions, birthing new collaborations, and firing up the imagination.”

Coinbase NFT’s slow start has allowed them to walk before they can run, and certainly there have been no complaints about how the platform operates, with transactions working just the same as on other NFT marketplaces and the ability to discuss collections evidently going down well.

How does Coinbase NFT work?

Coinbase adds a new dimension to NFT marketplaces with its a social-first approach. The platform is optimized for social engagement, which is obvious from the first glance – you’ll think you’re on Instagram. Its design includes social features that encourage conversation and discovery of new collections and artists.

For its platform architecture, Coinbase NFT uses Ethereum’s blockchain as its sole ledger for storing NFTs and tracking ownership. Due to the current single-chain structure, all NFTs on the platform are listed in ETH, and there is no sign yet that Coinbase plans to support more blockchains, at least for the foreseeable future.

The Coinbase NFT exchange is integrated into the broader Coinbase ecosystem, so users familiar with Coinbase’s cryptocurrency exchange will find it easier to adapt to the NFT exchange. With its unique value proposition which emphasizes social features and encourages discourse and connections, Coinbase NFT is well-positioned to take a leading role in the NFT market when it picks up again.

What features does Coinbase NFT have?

Coinbase NFT has a number of features which mark it out from the competition, which we’ll go into now.

Discover

The goal of the Discover tab in the Coinbase NFT marketplace is to enable creators and collectors to find each other. The Discover tab functions similarly to Instagram’s discover page; it curates NFTs across the platform and displays them to the user using the “infinite scroll” feed structure.

The Discover tab is divided into two columns. The column on the left features the infinite scroll feed that serves up NFTs that users can click on to purchase or interact with using the “like” and “comment” functionalities. The column on the right has the following features:

• Trending Collections: This displays the top three NFT collections on the platform (by volume) and has a “See All” button which users can click to load up the “Trending” page, which has a ranking of all the NFT collections on the platform.
• Accounts to Follow: This displays three of the most popular accounts on the platform and has a “See All” button that users can click on to discover more accounts. 

Shop

The Shop tab is the core of the Coinbase NFT platform. This is where the tens of thousands of NFTs on the platform are available for users to view and purchase. The shop tab has a filter that allows users to:

• Set a minimum and maximum price in ETH
• Browse through collections – the top seven collections by volume are listed beneath the search bar.
• Change NFT layout:
  • Recent
  • Oldest 
  • Lowest price
  • Highest price

Like its competitors, Coinbase NFT has some high-profile NFT collections available, with the most notable being the Bored Ape Yacht Club Collection.

Trending

The Trending tab ranks all the NFTs on the platform using their seven-day volume. The NFTs’ stats are listed using the following categorizations:

• Name
• Seven-day volume
• Number of Owners
• Number of Items

What wallets does Coinbase NFT support?

Coinbase NFT exchange supports three wallets:

• Coinbase Wallet
• MetaMask
• WalletConnect

No plans have been announced to add more wallets, but these three will cover a large percentage of the Coinbase NFT user base so there’s probably no need for them to do so.

How can I link my wallet to Coinbase NFT?

Connecting a wallet to Coinbase NFT is the same for Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and WalletConnect. To get started with Coinbase NFT, the user will follow these steps:

• Load up the Coinbase NFT website.
• In the top-right corner, click “Sign In”.
• A pop-up menu will appear with all three wallets that can be connected to the exchange.
• Select the relevant wallet and confirm any requests from the wallet to connect to Coinbase NFT.
• If the user doesn’t have a listed wallet, Coinbase provides a link to create a Coinbase Wallet in the “I don’t have a crypto wallet” section of the popup menu.
• Upon clicking “Create a new Coinbase Wallet,” a new tab will be opened in the user’s browser that loads up a Coinbase Wallet extension download page. 
• Follow the prompts to download the wallet and fill in all the necessary details to complete registration.
• Once the wallet is created, return to the Coinbase NFT page and click on “Sign In”.
• Click on the “Coinbase Wallet”.
• In the browser extension popup, sign in to the Coinbase wallet and authenticate the connection between Coinbase NFT and the Coinbase Wallet.

With that, the Coinbase Wallet is linked to the Coinbase NFT platform.

How do I buy NFTs on Coinbase NFT?

While purchasing NFTs is simple and similar to what you’ll find on other platforms, the method of discovering NFTs on the Coinbase NFT marketplace is different. On the Coinbase NFT marketplace, there are three ways to discover NFT collections:

• Discover page (the user’s feed)
• Shop page
• Trending page

Once a desirable NFT has been located, simply click on the NFT to load up the NFT sale page. Once on the page, the process is similar to other NFT marketplaces, with the NFT purchasing page featuring identical details to other platforms:

• Number of copies
• Royalties
• Mint date
• Number of owners
• Comments
• Activity

Coinbase NFT does not currently support auctions, so all NFTs are only available for fixed-price instant purchase. To make an instant purchase:

• Click on the blue “Buy Now” button.
• A Checkout tab will appear on the left part of the screen detailing the price. If the connected wallet does not have enough ETH to cover the purchase, the checkout tab provides a link to purchase ETH on Coinbase’s cryptocurrency exchange.
• Click on the “Open wallet to pay” button at the bottom of the screen. The wallet popup will display the NFT price and gas fees to be paid.
• Authenticate the payment and it’s yours!

How do I sell NFTs on Coinbase NFT?

According to Coinbase, every NFT listed for sale must comply with its terms of service or have a smart contract that can be traced back to the original creator, so bear that in mind before you try and sell on the exchange.

To list an NFT for sale on Coinbase NFT marketplace, follow these steps:

• Click on the profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Click on “Profile”.
• Click on “Manage NFTs”.
• In the drop-down menu, click on “Created”. All NFTs connected to the Coinbase wallet will be listed there. 
• Click on the NFT to be listed for sale.
• Enter the sale amount in ETH.
• Click “Confirm price”.
• Follow the prompts to complete the NFT listing.

Coinbase doesn’t currently support the minting of NFTs, although users can access NFTs minted or purchased on other platforms (e.g. OpenSea, Rarible) stored in their Coinbase Wallet. They can then list those NFTs for sale on the Coinbase NFT exchange.

Conclusion

Coinbase has taken a unique approach to how NFT exchanges can be structured and what goals they can pursue. If implemented well, the Discover page could be a goldmine for new creators by providing free advertising for NFT collections that would otherwise remain unknown, while the “Shop” and “Trending” pages also provide tools that simplify the search process for users and make it easier to discover outstanding collections.

The only negatives associated with Coinbase are the inability to mint NFTs, but this is very likely coming soon, as is an ‘auction’ feature. The fact that Coinbase NFT only caters for the Ethereum network could also be considered a downside, although it is not alone in this.

Overall, Coinbase NFT is a breath of fresh air in the NFT space, and if Coinbase digs in and invests in the development of new features to reinforce and expand the communal feel of the platform, Coinbase NFT exchange could become a town-square for the NFT industry for years to come.