It has been public knowledge that Coinbase is working on an NFT marketplace. As one of the biggest Cryptocurrency exchanges, it is a surprise that they are so late in the game, allowing companies like OpenSea to thrive into multi-billion dollar corporations.
The $50 billion valued company announced in October last year that they are working on a peer to peer marketplace, but no date was given on the expected launch date.
It now appears things are moving swiftly, and the company wants to make NFTs not only accessible to crypto nerds, but to anyone with a credit card.
Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to classify NFTs as a digital good in a bid to allow direct purchase with fiat currency. Currently, NFTs can only be purchased using cryptocurrency, which has been another roadblock to mass adoption.
Most marketplaces require you to purchase crypto, store it in a wallet, then connect the wallet to the marketplace. In this age of simple online shopping, that process is less than ideal.
“Buying digital goods should be as simple as buying a T-shirt or coffee pods on an e-commerce site. You can make your purchase with one click — that’s it.
That’s not the case for many NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. Today, if you want to buy an NFT — such as a digital art piece — you first need to open a crypto wallet, buy crypto, then use it to purchase an NFT in an online marketplace.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are used to this process. But for most people, it’s not simple, it’s not intuitive. We think it should be much easier. That will ensure NFTs can be for everyone.
As an important step in this mission, we’re excited to announce today that we’re partnering with Coinbase to let people use their Mastercard cards to make purchases on Coinbase’s upcoming NFT marketplace.”
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president of digital asset and blockchain products
While Coinbase NFT platform will have an edge over some marketplaces with this fiat adoption, a few other marketplaces like Rariable already accept credit card payments.
OpenSea, the biggest platform in existence, however does not offer a straightforward way of buying NFTs, which may give Coinbase an opening.
