I used Coinbase’s new NFT marketplace to buy a $ 50 cartoon rabbit

A new way to buy and sell NFTs is now available to the masses, and it is operated by one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Coinbase’s NFT service is still in beta mode, and the company debuted it in April for a limited number of select users before opening it to everyone.

The launch comes at a precarious time for the crypto giant – half of the value was shaved off within a week in early May, recently laid off 18% of its employees and canceled job offers, and the market in general is of course in a historic downturn that has caused many to ask questions about the fate of decentralized finance.

Needless to say, this is not the best time for space. But that did not stop Coinbase’s NFT store launch.

I tried it out and bought a $ 50 cartoon apart from the so-called SuperBunnies collection, one with “rare, brave superheroes who swore to defend the meta-verse.”

Like the $ 103 cartoon pig NFT I bought at OpenSea in March, the purchase made me wonder what purpose NFTs really serve beyond mere speculation.

There is no app yet – you need Coinbase Wallet

There is no Coinbase NFT app per se. Instead, you need to have the Coinbase Wallet app downloaded (in addition to the main app for Coinbase, where you buy and sell crypto.) Fortunately for Coinbase, many potential customers are already doing so.

In the wallet app, click on the square icon at the bottom center and you will see a banner that reads “Coinbase NFT”.

You can also use the website version to read NFTs, which is what I chose to do – you just need to confirm that it’s you on your phone.

The first thing I noticed and liked was a switch that allowed me to scroll through the NFTs and see their prices in USD, not in ether.

There were Discover and Shop tabs so you can filter by NFTs for sale.

I saw many spin-offs of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, which has raised around $ 1 billion in sales. There were Mutant Monkey Yacht Club, Crypto Apes, Animated Bored Apes and Bored Bears, to name a few.

One of the most expensive NFTs I found was one priced at $ 15,568 from Crypto Punks.

I ended up on one from the SuperBunnies collection, and admittedly chose one of the least expensive NFTs. My “Light Super Bunny # 2894” has “unimpressed” eyes.

As a launch special, Coinbase said they would not charge any transaction fees, otherwise known as gas fees, for a “limited time.” These fees can be significant and add a good deal to the final price tag. For example, I previously bought an NFT on OpenSea that cost around $ 50, but I paid $ 100 in total because of these fees.

However, the limited specialty seems to have expired – there were still network fees from $ 14 to $ 18, which increased the total cost of $ 32 NFT to almost $ 50.

This friction felt familiar: the need to buy more ether to cover the cost of the fees, wait for it to be processed, and then finally buy the NFT.

NFT hype aside, Coinbase is now an even bigger player in the game

Supporters usually say that NFTs give creators the opportunity to make a living from their work, since blockchain technology gives them more direct access to customers.

But at the end of the day, NFTs are largely speculative digital assets, the ones that buyers hope will shoot up in value so that they will get into an unexpected amount of money.

Still, the $ 41 billion market has its followers, and Coinbase’s entry into the NFT trading area signals that it is likely to remain one of the largest players in the Defi world.