WazirX, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in India, announced the launch of the first Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) marketplace in the country on 1 June. The platform is slated to include exclusive artwork by renowned artists, photographers, and mixed media professionals from India and other countries in South Asia. The platform will be primarily used for trading NFTs will run on the blockchain technology of its parent company Binance. Binance is one of the largest crypto exchanges globally, and acquired WazirX back in 2019.
NFT is a unique kind of cryptocurrency asset that is inherently non-fungible in nature. This implies that NFT is not replaceable by another identical or similar item. Following the purchase, no other copies of an NFT can be created. This means that it is a unique asset for buyers.
The company said that the marketplace has 15 creators as of now, and has received more than 15,000 applications from creators and collectors. The marketplace will first feature works of automotive photographer Arjun Meno, visual artist Vimal Chandran, Montreal-based mixed media artist Ishita Banerjee, wall mural artist Sneha Chakraborty, and anonymous street artist who goes by the mononym Tyler.
WazirX stated it has brought more than 300 creators on board who will be releasing their works on the marketplace. The platform will consist of rewards and cashback that are worth $50,000. There will not be a listing price, and it will offer a minimal gas fee of $1 for all transactions. The gas fees is composed of the money that NFT trading platforms charge from buyers.
NFTs have become popular after a slew of significant sales this year, including one by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, of his tweet for more than $2 million. The other noteworthy sale includes an NFT artwork that was bought for over $69 million by Vignesh Sundaresan, an entrepreneur based in Singapore, at a Christie’s auction back in March 2021.
NFTs on the WazirX marketplace can be purchased only through WRX, its native token. Currently, one token is worth Rs 104. There is a supply cap of 1 billion. The platform will launch with a ‘fixed price’ model in the beta phase and will let artists add a royalty fee of up to 15% on their work’s resale. According to the company, the NFTs will be interoperable and can be transferred to a different blockchain later.