The best NFT platforms: choosing a marketplace for NFT minting

In 2021, the crypto market was abuzz with a new trend - NFT. People who had not yet managed to get used to regular tokens were perplexed again by what was happening, while progressive companies and artists, together with cryptocurrency holders and investors, were gaining enormous profits.

A year later, NFTs became commonplace. Largely due to the available NFT platforms, which make it easy for users to buy and create non-fungible tokens. In addition to marketplaces, celebrities also helped to popularize the trend: they bought NFTs for millions of dollars and released their own unique digital collections. Blockchain games with in-game NFTs played a significant role in this process, as a huge sales volume fell precisely on the GameFi sector.

In case you are also ready to create your own NFT or buy an inexpensive unique token that could be worth thousands of dollars next year, it’s time to explore the best NFT platforms to do so. But first, let’s define the key concepts.

An NFT marketplace is a place to create, sell and buy non-fungible tokens. Depending on the platform, assets can represent digital artwork (paintings, photos, music), in-game NFTs and NFT-lands, various collectibles, and digitized real-world objects. Marketplaces do not store NFTs but are intermediaries between buyers and sellers.

NFTs are unique non-fungible cryptographic assets that exist in a digital object certificate format and are transferred to another user via blockchain.

The most popular NFT platforms and by far the best NFT platforms for artists are:

To use one of them, you need to have a cryptocurrency wallet that is supported by the marketplace. If you want to buy any particular NFT, it is worth paying attention to the blockchain in which it is created and choosing a compatible wallet.

Also, do not forget to make a deposit. In any case, you will need to pay a commission for the transaction in the network, despite the possibility of free minting. Beforehand, find out what cryptocurrencies are supported by your chosen platform so you can decide on the amount to deposit and the wallet.

OpenSea is the most popular universal NFT platform, working with Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana blockchains. It has been on the market since 2017. You can buy NFT art, PFP NFT collections, in-game NFTs, and even crypto domains here. OpenSea supports free minting, which makes the platform attractive to newcomers. Earlier, we wrote about creating a non-fungible token on this marketplace in the article “How to mint NFT on OpenSea”.

You can pay with cryptocurrencies ETH, WETH, DAI, USDC, and MEME. Therefore, MetaMask and WalletConnect wallets are the most suitable. The platform charges a 2.5% commission on the transaction amount for each sale, and the creator of NFT can set its own resale fee (up to 10%).

Nifty Gateway is an equally famous industry leader created in 2018 and owned by the Gemini crypto exchange. The platform issues NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, but purchases are made in fiat money with credit cards.  The marketplace fees are the highest on the market at 15%.

Crypto enthusiasts know Nifty Gateway as the marketplace where the most expensive NFTs were sold: The Merge ($91.8 million) and The First 5000 Days ($69.3 million).

The key focus of the marketplace is the elite digital art from established artists, but the site also trades in less exclusive collectibles.

The creators of Nifty Gateway see their NFT platform as a place where leading artists and brands come together. The goal is to create high-quality, limited edition NFT collections available only on NG.

KnownOrigin is an NFT marketplace that focuses on selling artwork with a limited release date. You must pass the moderators’ verification to create an NFT on this platform. It cannot be done without a pre-application. Only selected artists join the KnownOrigin community.

The commission on primary sales is 15%, and secondary sales are subject to a 2.5% commission. The platform runs on the Ethereum blockchain and supports ETH cryptocurrency only. An interesting feature of KnownOrigin is the ability to create an NFT in collaboration with another artist. In addition, on June 22, 2022, it became known that eBay had acquired the marketplace.

Rarible is a decentralized NFT platform with all sorts of NFTs. It works in different networks: Ethereum, Flow, Solana, and Tezos. A transaction fee is 2.5%. It is compatible with the following wallets: MetaMask, Fortmatic, WalletConnect, Coinbase Wallet, MyEtherWallet, and Torus. The Marketplace feature allows you to buy NFT for fiat, but you can also pay with cryptocurrencies. ETH, RARI, WETH, DAI, and ATRI are accepted.

Rarible has its own RARI token, the owners of which have the right to participate in the platform’s management. Holders of this cryptocurrency can influence the company’s policies and other aspects of its activities. In 2021, the marketplace signed a partnership agreement with Adobe, making it easier to verify and protect copyrights before creating NFT.

LooksRare is a decentralized marketplace for NFT trading, launched in early 2022. The developers have set a goal of surpassing OpenSea in sales and have even managed to do so in less than a month, but many consider it a fake.

What distinguishes the platform from its competitors is its low 2% commission and its initiatives to encourage sales growth. In addition to standard NFT trading, LooksRare offers ways to make money, such as staking your own LOOKS token, trading rewards, and providing liquidity. The site supports the following wallets: MetaMask, WalletConnect, and Coinbase Wallet.

Even though the basic features of all the listed marketplaces are the same, each of them differs from its competitors. While OpenSea and Rarible are open even to “no-name” users who want to create their own NFT, Nifty Gateway and KnownOrigin mainly accept only famous artists into their ranks, focusing on wealthy connoisseurs of digital art. LooksRare stands out from the others, as the professional cryptocurrency community has criticized the platform for being overly speculative and fictitious in its activities. But it could be a good introduction to the NFT industry because of its accessibility and generous rewards.