Coinbase’s NFT Marketplace Flop Reinforces OpenSea’s Centralized Monopoly

Coinbase‘s highly anticipated NFT marketplace has been far from well-received. According to Decrypt, fewer than 150 new users signed up for Coinbase’s NFT public release when it launched on Wednesday.

The platform, which was in beta before its public launch, had a total of 1,112 users by the evening with only 150 transactions executed, amounting to just US$75,000 in ETH traded. Such numbers are weak considering Coinbase’s main trading platform has over 89 million users.

At the time of writing, a total of volume of US$650,103 has been traded on Coinbase’s NFT marketplace according to Dune.

Coinbase’s uphill battle in the NFT marketplace space signals that the market seems unwilling to relinquish OpenSea of its monopolistic market share.

OpenSea currently has around 1 million active wallets and an estimated 85% of the market. But as we highlighted before, rivals such as LooksRare offer lower fees and greater usability and feature development.

Even at a time when community is a key driver – to which OpenSea is severely lacking – the platform is still retaining its dominant stance.

Crypto, NFTs and other blockchain technology has immense value in its lack of central authority. But yet, NFT users continue to flock to OpenSea, which is openly a centralised entity. Worse still, OpenSea is a monopolistic centralised body.

Sure Coinbase’s NFT marketplace is also centralised but the lack of appetite for alternative platforms other than OpenSea should send a troubling message for those creating their own NFT marketplaces. If a platform that already has 89 million users is struggling to launch a successful NFT marketplace, what chances do the rest have?