eBay
eBay, the e-commerce giant, has successfully entered the world of NFTs. For his very first collection, the site is already experiencing a shortage of its most rare tokens. The approximately 142 million active buyers are snapping up the eBay NFT ‘Genesis’ collection.
The new collection dedicated to top athletes
eBay has dedicated its very first collection of NFTs to top athletes. Launched in partnership with the platform of NFT OneOf, sports and music professionals, the ‘Genesis’ collection will mainly consist of animated and 3D representations of the most famous athletes. Most have already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, including Canadian hockey star Wayne Gretzky.
Tokens that are being sold like hotcakes
NFTs (non fungible tokens) represent certificates for digital properties. These tokens are issued by a blockchain, including Ethereum, and are associated with a specific digital asset. For eBay, each
NFT ‘Genesis’ represents a unique collectible card dedicated to sports. In this first collection, the
online sales giant chooses to present several levels of rarity
to determine the price of its tokens. The rarer it is, the more expensive token
‘Genesis’ is and can fetch up to $1,500 (15 NFT). The
other tokens are sold at $25 (199 NFT) and $100 (99 NFT).
NFT: what advantages for eBay?
Considering
current disruptions in the cryptocurrency and NFT market,
many questions arise around eBay’s decision to integrate into the world of digital currencies. Some experts are concerned about this speculative universe, and see the purchase motivations just if following the trend, but eBay sees a sector
promising that constitutes an enormous financial potential. Thanks to its partnership
with OneOf, the site specializing in e-commerce, seeks to democratize
Gen Z most wanted NFTs.
“NFTs and blockchain technology are revolutionising the collectibles space and are
no longer seen only as an investment opportunity for entertainment”.
Dawn Block,
Vice President of Collectibles at eBay.
CEO of OneOf also believes that through this partnership, the technology of NFT can now become more accessible to the general public. Because there is no longer any need to be an expert in the field in order to buy, sell or become a
NFT collector.
“You don’t need to be a cryptocurrency expert to buy, sell and collect NFTs. OneOf and eBay are bringing transformative Web3 technology to the 100 million
mass consumers not accustomed to crypto”.
Lin Dai, PDG of OneOf.
In the same optics, an NFT vending machine has been installed in New York to
allow collectors to directly purchase NFTs with the local currency (the US dollar) with the bank card. eBay also plans to launch new NFT collections in the next few months, despite the instability of the current digital asset market
