eBay, an American multinational ecommerce company, has announced its decision to join the raging non-fungible token (NFT) frenzy. The firm has informed the media community that moving forward, it will permit the sale of NFTs on its marketplace.
The latest support for NFT mirrors the billions of dollars in NFT sales over the last few months. eBay seems to have opted to plug into the rapidly growing industry that’s seen a marked increase in purchases for digital collectibles.
According to the organization’s SVP for Americas Jordan Sweetnam, eBay will begin by offering a chance for a small group of its verified venders to sell NFTs on the platform. The months following the initial trade will be marked by critical design updates that will create fresh capabilities as far as the sale of blockchain-driven collectibles is concerned.
So far, eBay seems to have dedicated massive resources on infrastructural investment for physical items like trading cards, and including other collectibles such as shoes and wristwatches that the company will assist in product verification for buyers.
Since its establishment, eBay has grown to become a major player in the online shopping market. The interest to embrace NFT trading may turn out to be a new challenge to the globally-recognized behemoth – they will be competing with a number of crypto native NFT platforms that have been existence for a while now.
eBay’s Interest in Crypto
The organization’s new interest in NFT comes hot in the heels of eBay’s reported intention to add cryptocurrencies to their list of payment options. The same news is pegged on the fact that the principle mode of payment for NFT purchases is Ethereum.
The eBay decision reflects much of what has been happening in the corporate space and government circles. A growing number of organizations have started accepting digital assets as a form of payment and investment.
Such new occurrences have seemed to shadow the rather bleak crypto history when major financial establishments could not touch virtual coins even with a 100-foot pole. Today, the world’s largest cryptocurrencies seem are on the rise to become mainstream standards of exchange.
Tesla, the American manufacturer of electric vehicles, for example, began accepting payments in Bitcoin as PayPal, another major organization, provided the opportunity for its users to sell and hold digital assets using their e-wallet.
eBay’s decision may turn out to be its attempt to adapt changing circumstances in the business world. The aspect was well captured in the organization’s statement to Reuters about their desire to exploit the most relevant payment options available.
Experts may easily point eBay’s latest development as a response to recent investor disappointment when the firm suffered a weak second-quarter profit forecast. The decision to explore the NFT space may be a strategy to try and gain from the growing market that has taken the year 2021 by storm.
Conclusion – The Sustainability Question
Right from the time NFTs became a popular phenomenon, a host of commentators jumped in to speculate that the idea behind blockchain-based collectibles was a bubble. Of coours, all visible signs of a bubble have been displayed – right from sensational news headlines, celebrity endorsements and expensive sales.
Not too long ago, Beeple, a digital artist, reportedly walked away with an eye-watering figure of $69 million at an auction. The success stories are many, and startup organizations have become keen about NFTs.
At this point, the question about whether the NFT craze will be sustainable in the long run cannot be confronted with a single answer. The point is that the hype seems to have gradually gone down – NFT average prices have reduced by more than 60 percent compared to February numbers.
