WazirX is one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Just recently, it launched the country’s first NFT Marketplace. This is inarguably a historic move within the Indian cryptocurrency space.
What is NFT?
NFT’s are Non-Fungible Tokens. These are described as something of value that cannot be exchanged with other items, and their uniqueness makes them invaluable. NFT’s majorly consist of digital assets, but these token could also represent the digital value of real-life objects such as art, music, games, collectibles. They are also encoded very similarly to cryptos. These codes within the items authenticate it, and its authentication proves more valuable to the buyer than the item itself sometimes. This is majorly because it proves its originality.
How do NFTs work?
NFT’s are generally part of the blockchain belonging to Ethereum, a form of cryptocurrency. Ethereum’s blockchain supports the information about NFT’s but works differently than how the information on crypto-coins is stored.
What you can expect from the NFT Marketplace launched by WazirX
WazirX’s crypto marketplace will host and feature exclusive content and art created by stalwarts and creators in India and abroad. Since Binance Technology acquired WazirX in 2019, its parent company will mint the NFT’s. Enthusiasts can purchase the NFT’s on WazirX through the coin WRX listed on their official exchange website. Currently, 1 WRX is Rs.145.37.
There will be no bidding on the items, and they will be sold at a fixed price. The creators will receive 95% of the sale from the items sold, while WazirX plans to charge a 5% service fee. The conditions and terms of the sales of items will be fixed by the artist. The artists and their work will be displayed under the ‘Spotlight’ section of the WazirX NFT marketplace’s beta website version. While NFT’s are majorly digital content, many artists whose work consists of physical items that the website has tied to its offline sales.
The NFT’s have no listing price yet and have a transaction rate of $1 and less.
According to Business Today, Indian artists and creators such as Ishita Banerjee, a media artist; Sneha Chakroborty, a wall mural artist and Vimal Chandran, a visual artist, have already signed up onto the WazirX NFT marketplace.
NFT’s & the Art World
NFT sales within the art world have made immense profits, and creators have felt this level of success wouldn’t have taken place in real-world sales, which is a famous conjecture. Some special NFT sales include the likes of the 50-second video created by the musician Grimes selling for $390,000, a JPEG sold by Beeple, an American animator for over $69 million, and the sale of Jack Dorsey, the CEO and Founder of Twitter’s first tweet for $2.9 million.
According to the market tracker, NonFungible.com, artists and collectors have spent almost $200 million in March alone compared to $250 million spent during the whole of the year 2020 on NFT based memes, GIFs, and artwork. Most digital artists have welcomed these sales forms as most of them are tired of not generating as much eminence from their work as they could. Most authors, filmmakers, and digital artists believe that NFT’s genuinely allowed them to own the rights of their work and help them control their own narrative and creative process. It lets them not only build up monetary wealth and get compensated for the diligence they’ve put into their work but also gives them room to become renowned in their fields. Art has often been undervalued, but with the cryptocurrency boom and within it, NFT can help build its value up.
