By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 19th, 2024
FTX has put on its list a number of redeemable tokens that can be used to purchase both physical items and non-physical assets including company branded apparel, Star War-themed hoodies, etc.
The start of 2021 saw a massive upsurge in NFT trading, though last week, the activity declined, owing to the crypto market’s downhill trend. This did not deter FTX, defined best by its derivative offerings, to enter the NFT Marketplace with interesting redeemable assets on its list.
NFT or non-fungible token, in simple words, refers to a digital ledger, whose authenticity and ownership is defined by the blockchain technology used in their creation. FTX, founded by MIT Graduate and one of the richest blockchain billionaires, Sam Bankman-Fried, is a cryptocurrency exchange platform designed for both professional trading firms as well as novices. At a time when cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are facing a plummeting trend amidst Tesla refusing Bitcoin payment in the future and Bitcoin 3% drop post the recent cryptic tweet by Elon Musk, FTX has ignored the trend and launched their NFT Marketplace.
FTX has put on its list a number of redeemable tokens that can be used to purchase both physical items and non-physical assets including company branded apparel, Star War-themed hoodies, condoms, a League of Legends game against enthusiast Sam Bankman-Fried and his team at FTX, and the most popular, NFT SBF Lunch # 1, that will give you a chance to have a 30-minute Zoom call or lunch in person with founder Sam Bankman-Fried. At this very moment, the SBF Lunch NFT is bidding at $110,000. With 12 Days, 12 Hours remaining for the bid to close, we can expect the rise in price to be humongous.
The tokens are created using Smart Contract platforms Ethereum and Solana, the latter of which was visibly preferred by Sam Bankman-Fried in recent months. FTX will charge buyers and sellers of these NFTs a $ 5 fee. The company has given Disclaimers stating the cons of NFT, which has not stopped NFT enthusiasts from placing bids as high as $ 7500 on a Darth Vader hoodie.
FTX is not the first one to have inaugurated the NFT Marketplace. The Indian crypto exchange ‘WaxirX’ owned by Binance, launched its own NFT Marketplace in May and the already popular Nifty Gateway Marketplace, owned by Gemini, has been a part of NFT trend since 2018. Last month, FTX gained naming rights over Miami Heat’s home court through a $ 135 million 19-year sponsorship deal, thus replacing American Airlines as the chief sponsor. It would now be called FTX Arena.
With new and emerging technologies like the increase in NFTs for owning and protecting digital art, the reach is likely to touch all aspects of business and especially marketing. The application of NFT technology to marketing strategies, if done right, is bound to give Marketers measurable results. And with NFT still being at a nascent stage, now is the perfect moment to dive into it.