New FTX US NFT Market a godsend for esports organizations

On Monday October 11^th the US-based crypto currency exchange FTX announced the launch of its NFT marketplace. On release the marketplace will feature Solana based NFTs with support for Etherium based NFTs coming in the near future. FTX’s NFT marketplace will give users the ability to both mint and transfer NFTs. Brett Harrison, FTX’s president said in a statement

“With the launch of this platform, we hope to provide both US and global users with a regulated marketplace that is intuitive and responsive to their needs.”

While the news about this new marketplace makes the rounds, we are itching to know how this will impact the various esports industry organizations and partners of FTX going forward.

Standing out from the crowd

FTX’s NFT marketplace will be far from the only one on the market. Alternatives like Opensea, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, and more offer a range of NFT trading and minting options. Most of these marketplaces support Etherium and choose to differentiate themselves with support for other NFT ecosystems such as Polygon or Flow. By choosing to start with Solana support, FTX will have itself a nice niche in the market.

To capitalise on its distinction from competitors, FTX plans to work “directly with Solana project creators to ensure authenticity verification”. The firm also confirmed that “All Solana NFTs that conform to the Metaplex standard will be supported on the FTX US platform”. The planned addition of support for Etherium based NFTs will help to expand the platform further.

Harrison’s statement went on to conclude “The NFT ecosystem has started to infiltrate pop culture, but has been lacking a platform that provides easy access and exposure to the mainstream audience”. FTX’s NFT marketplace will aim to make the minting and trading of crypto assets easier through support for both crypto and fiat currencies. Bids and listings can be made in a range of currencies including USD, SOL and ETH.

FTX is further standing out from the crowd as the premier supporter of esports, as proven by recent partnerships with both TeamSoloMid and Riot Games. Now taking on another niche of the market, can FTX push both of their side partners utilize each others potential going forward?

Tie ins make potential unique selling points

The potential avenue to draw in crypto fans are tie ins with other companies and existing brands as well. Back in June, FTX announced a $210 million naming rights and partnership deal with TSM to rename the gaming organisation TSM FTX. This partnership bore its first NFT fruit on October 1^st when TSM FTX announced the company’s first step into NFT collections with four NFT Aurorians in the crypto game Aurory.

FTX also has a partnership with Riot Games. These commercial partnerships open up a potential unique selling point for FTX’s NFT marketplace. Fans of TSM FTX who want to own a unique piece of merchandise may drive users to the marketplace helping to drive other sales. The partnership with Riot Games may even result in NFTs for its major titles League of Legends and Valorant. Given the incredibly large user and fan base of LoL especially, this could help to draw in new customers no matter what form the tie in NFTs take.

Comments are closed.