How To Develop an NFT Marketplace?
Over the past five years, one of the fastest-growing sectors in the crypto industry has been the creation and development of non-fungible tokens (NFT). What’s particularly impressive is that this market allows you to earn fabulous sums at minimal costs. In this article, we are going to explore the notion of NFTs, their types and how to successfully develop an NFT marketplace.
What Are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?
NFTs, also referred to as “non-fungible tokens” are tokens that can’t be substituted. They are non-interchangeable; non-fungible tokens have unique attributes that make them different from something else.
A non-fungible token (NFT) offers digital ownership of assets based on the blockchain protocol. It can be:
- Digital or multimedia content (image, audio, or video files)
- Investment activities (real estate, registered securities, a share in the company’s profit)
- An item of great collectible value (antiques, stamps, coins)
Unlike a cryptocurrency token, which is issued in bulk and has an exchange rate, a non-fungible token is unique. Its price is determined by the seller or through an auction. At the same time, there are also standard features: NFT transactions are encoded and confirmed using one of the blockchain protocols, such as Ethereum. Thus, the potential buyer receives evidence of the NFT’s authenticity.
What Is an NFT Marketplace?
NFT marketplace is a special service for creating and trading NFT assets. Essentially, it acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers and has millions of works available for exchange.
For the user’s convenience, the tokens offered for sale may be divided into categories:
- Images
- Audio
- Video
- Copyright
What Type of NFTs Can Be Listed on a Marketplace?
There are many types of NFTs that can be listed on a marketplace—for example, audio, video, images, and much more. However, in order to understand the matter better, let us divide the majority of NFT marketplaces into two categories: universal and niche. The former usually sells all types of NFTs, some of which include artworks, gaming assets and artefacts, media & entertainment content, audio, and even real estate. Niche Marketplaces, in turn, specialises in selling specific types of NFTs—for example,which sells luxury goods like jewellery and bags, or Xtingles, which is a marketplace aimed at ASMR creators.
Traditionally, objects of digital creativity fall into the scope of NFT: photo, audio, and video. At the same time, technically, there is no problem in implementing blockchain technology with any asset or copyright. The main advantage of this approach is a distributed ledger in which information is stored.
The objects of real estate, as well as their lease, may be the item of contracts. In the second case, the purchase of tokens as a real estate renting fee can act as the right to use the object for a certain period. In addition, the transaction history of this token allows you to track the entire chain of tenants. This increases their confidence in the landlord. The main obstacle to the tokenization of real estate, cars, and other popular assets is the insufficient development of national legislation.
How Does an NFT Marketplace Work?
Your user interaction with the NFT marketplace begins once you connect your wallet to the platform.
With an NFT Marketplace, you can easily create, buy and sell your own tokens. Different marketplaces enable different features, so you will need to spend some time studying the framework that works for you, and your NFT is ready to be listed for sale.
Generally, the procedure is the following: you submit your NFT for review, and it is either approved or rejected by moderators. If it passes moderation, your work appears for all marketplace users to see. From now on, they can start bidding their prices for your art, and whoever places the highest bid by the end of the bidding period gets the NFT. The exchange of funds is carried out via your previously linked crypto wallet.
Key Features of an NFT Marketplace
- Dashboard
The marketplace showcase is a user-friendly dashboard. It provides the information on most popular NFTs, collections, items, including current prices, etc.
- Search functions
This feature will help users find specific NFTs and facilitate the trading process. Adding search filters will help users sort the list according to certain criteria, without getting confused by the assortment.
- Add tokens tool
Having this tool in your marketplace will allow creators to add their tokens. The authors will be able to submit their files along with their descriptions such as the title, features, starting price, etc.
- Auction dashboard
This feature allows users to buy and sell tokens on the NFT marketplace. The current bid should also be displayed here along with its status and expiration date.
- Linking a wallet
Wallet binding will allow users to buy, sell and store tokens. In addition, users should be able to choose between the different types of wallets they prefer.
- Rating system
The rating system will help buyers find the most demanded and popular NFTs on the market. A separate rating should be provided for NFT sellers. It can be compiled based on past transactions and the number of positions offered for trade
- Trading history
The NFT marketplace must have a tool for viewing the history of all transactions of a particular user: the number of purchased or sold tokens, their price, total sum, etc.
How to Build an NFT Marketplace?
So, what does it take to create your own NFT marketplace? Considering the growing popularity of mobile platforms in all spheres, you will have to develop both web and mobile versions of the marketplace to reach a larger audience. Before doing so, let’s take a look at our must-do list:
- You must choose the appropriate programming language: it can be Python, Java, PHP, or any other. The choice depends on your goal—if you made up your mind to create the web platform plus an app, you will have to work with several languages and tools.
When developing, you will also need to choose which blockchain platform you are going to use—for example, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, or others.
- Explore the possibilities of blockchain technologies based on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, etc., that support smart contracts. You will have to implement them as well.
- Get ready to master the use of databases and SQL.
- Investigate on the main standards of smart contracts. Without them, the launch of an NFT marketplace is not possible.
Those are some of the requirements needed to implement a project. In addition, interface elements should be intuitive and user-friendly. Providing a user rating system and qualified technical support is also necessary.
In the future, as the marketplace “promotes” its reputation will work for itself. If you manage to attract eminent content creators, opinion leaders, and media persons as clients, the platform will move up in the rankings.