0x Token Surged 53% Following Partnership Announcement with Coinbase

0x token (ZRX) surged 53% after the protocol announced a partnership with Coinbase non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Currently, ZRX is at a near five-month high of $1.18 and is also approaching a market cap of $1 billion. Its 0x network will power Coinbase NFT, which went live in beta mode yesterday. The American crypto exchange looks to compete with leading NFT marketplace OpenSea with its own NFT initiative. According to Coinbase, part of this entails creating a platform geared toward “social engagement”. This means that users will be able to create customized profiles, follow friends, and comment on each other’s NFT collections.

Coinbase said it selected 0x to power its new social NFT marketplace because of the protocol’s comparatively lower transaction costs. Speaking on this, Will Warren, co-founder, and co-CEO of 0x Labs expressed:

“We’re thrilled that Coinbase is using 0x to power their new social marketplace for NFTs and anticipate this launch will unlock a massive wave of new users into the blockchain space.”

Furthermore, the open peer-to-peer assets-exchanging enabling protocol also further stated:

“With powerful multi-chain NFT swap support and the most robust feature set of any NFT exchange protocol, 0x was the obvious choice to power the new marketplace. Additionally, with 0x Protocol v4 being up to 54% more gas efficient, Coinbase marketplace users will enjoy low trading costs.”

In addition, a Twitter statement issued on 0x’s official handle also covered the aforementioned litany of benefits. Furthermore, Coinbase also stated that its NFT platform will utilize 0x protocol’s “powerful multi-chain NFT swap support”. Additionally, the crypto exchange platform said the protocol enables Coinbase NFT to reward creators with a range of perks. These include instant royalties and non-custodial listings.

0x Benefiting from Coinbase NFT Beta Mode

0x is currently benefiting from the hype surrounding the recent Coinbase beta access launch, first announced last October. For now, this live beta access can only be used with self-custody wallets. They include Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and wallets that support the WalletConnect protocol. Coinbase also added that it might launch an NFT custody service in the future. This service will allow interested buyers to purchase NFTs using their Coinbase accounts or credit cards. The crypto exchange had neglected to mention 0x’s involvement in its initial NFT marketplace initiative, focusing on the perks instead. Commenting on its marketplace initiative, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said “we need to make social more decentralized over time.”

Initially launched on Ethereum, 0x is an open-source, decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol that allows for the peer-to-peer exchange of tokenized assets across several blockchains. Supported networks include Polygon (MATIC), BNB Chain, Avalanche (AVAX), and Fantom. Earlier in the year, 0x launched the latest version of its protocol, dubbed v4. This update allows projects to offer swaps between NFTs on a host of networks, including Ethereum.