An Overview of NFT Marketplaces: The Past, Present, and Future

How do NFT aggregation platforms contribute to the development of the industry?

Back in 2016-2018, OG NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, MakersPlace, and SuperRare surprised the market with their debuts. Some of them were only available by invitation, which means only invited artists could create and sell on these platforms. And as the market developed, more and more marketplaces emerged, and many of them are more diverse and unique than their predecessors. NFTs are also combined more with finance, including AMM(Automated Market Makers), decentralization, staking, etc. In this article, we will explore the evolution of NFT marketplaces and discuss their qualities using the 4F model.

Development: The Journey

NFT marketplaces reflect the change in market trends. In early 2021, they achieved popularity and market focus through social media and the fame of their respective artists. Banksy's extravagant NFT auctions on "Love In the Air" are a good example. NFTs are all about art and artists. Therefore, marketplaces would only select famous creators and invite them to create 1/1 artwork.

Perhaps an NFT carries a certain style that is similar to Banksy's—repetitive street-style posters with exaggerated brush strokes that scream culture shock. It has individuality or identity.

While we can't paint every wall in the streets of Los Angeles, we can spread the culture we identify with across the network through memes. While police may cover graffiti on the street corner up the next day, NFTs stored on IPFS can last forever.

Nowadays, NFTs do not limit themselves to artwork that awaits to be traded, but as a collection with different traits that can evolve with community and/or brand. Thus, we can see that OpenSea far surpassed other marketplaces of the 2016-2018 period. In addition, the NFT hype successfully spawned the launch of many other marketplaces.

Not long after, the NFT market evolved again. Hype brings opportunities that could lead to the bandwagon effect, and slang like FOMO and FUD emerged. In addition to its community driven and viral attributes, NFTs are also assets. Many people saw the opportunity to make a fortune through whitelisting and flipping NFTs, which is why many data analysis tools were developed. Tools like NFTGo.io and rarity.tools increase the chances of profiting when trading NFTs. Not only that, but they also create new paradigms for the market.

User needs in the market have also shifted—how does one find the lowest offer across all marketplaces? How does one choose an NFT that has a lot of potential? Furthermore, NFT marketplaces have emerged from the 1.0 version to 2.0 and are now one-stop platforms for data analysis and trading.

How crucial are NFT aggregation platforms?

Google aggregates content from websites, Facebook aggregates social connections, and DEX aggregates different liquidity mining models. Aggregators not only help users capture a greater value in the blockchain era, but are also an integral part of the NFT ecosystem.

In general, NFTs are created on Ethereum, Flow, and BSC. Each of these blockchains have an isolated ecosystem of protocols. The number of marketplaces is growing rapidly, while these marketplaces offer a diverse range of NFT services, trading and researching NFTs can still be challenging for some. For instance, newcomers may be unsure of how to find the best market, and professional traders may look for the best price. On the other hand, different markets have different user interfaces, and that increases the learning curve for many users.

Imagine this: you're looking for the best offer for a popular NFT. Yet, you need to switch between different marketplaces to view all of them. Or, if you're an investor, you may be looking for all the latest data and indicators on the NFT market. Since such information is scattered, it may take a few minutes to get to what could've been found in a matter of seconds.

Those unfamiliar with how NFTs work often search considerably for content, only to be left with no useful information in the end. Therefore, a quality NFT aggregator is crucial.

NFT aggregators compile NFT trading information from various blockchains into one place, thus saving time and improving efficiency for users, which leads to a better trading experience.

With NFTGo.io's one-stop NFT aggregation service, all you need to do is simply go to the website. You'll be able to get an overview of the NFT market, learn about the latest trends, and most importantly, search, discover, and trade everything about NFTs all in one go.

The 4F Evaluation Model

For evaluating a good NFT marketplace, we must look at these aspects: fluency, fees, function, and finance—4F, in short.

Fluency refers to the smoothness of transaction and user experience. Is the interface clear and easy to use? Can you buy an NFT with just a single click? Is data visualization available? NFTGo.io has a comprehensive search engine that supports both metadata and natural language. The powerful search algorithm and sorting logic improve the efficiency of the users' research process and the presentation of search results. On top of that, NFTGo.io allows users to "sweep the floor" in bulk and prevents the incurrence of attacks and additional gas fees with its secure transaction mode.

Function refers to whether the functionality is comprehensive and relevant to user needs. For example, is there a "filter" function that allows users to quickly identify the traits and conditions they want? The product can also help users analyze and compare offers from different marketplaces to find the best deal. Once users have decided on the NFTs they'd like to purchase, the product allows them to add them to their shopping cart and complete the transaction altogether. Not only will users see the prices offered by different platforms, but they can also buy in bulk. At the same time, NFT market trends and data will be readily available.

Fees refer to transactional costs. As we all know, apart from the price of the NFT, royalties and processing fees are required to purchase an NFT. Would it be possible to omit the gas fee, or get quotes from multiple marketplaces so that users can land the best offer?

Finance refers to the return on earnings. If users wish to successfully flip an NFT, they will need to make investment decisions through data and market responses. With this need in mind, NFTGo.io provides users with a convenient data analysis tool while presenting them with the most comprehensive data available. Not only can users get a glimpse of the hottest NFT projects and market conditions of the moment, they can also easily compare the differences between various NFTs, including whales' positions and holder distributions. It's also worth mentioning that NFTGo.io automatically detects wash trades to guard its users against suspicious NFTs.

Conclusion

In summary, NFT aggregation platforms bring NFT information together in one place so that user experiences can be optimized. Without the use of an aggregator, users would have to visit each NFT marketplace individually, register, and view the NFTs offered by each marketplace. Hence, an aggregator is like a door to the future of NFTs. Whether or not you're an expert in NFTs, you'll benefit from the features that an aggregator offers.

In the future, as the metaverse and GameFi industries grow and mature, we'll see more in-game NFTs, dynamic NFTs, and even interactive NFTs. Trading digital assets might become a daily necessity, just like buying and selling goods online. The financialization of NFTs and the booming growth of the derivatives market will also contribute to the continued evolution of marketplaces.

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