best nft marketplaces

4 Best NFT Marketplaces for Beginners

As the day proceeds, the Blockchain world brings forth new asset classes and ideas that leave millions of people wondering. For instance, Grimes earned millions of dollars for a single NFT piece to a digital artwork sold for $12 million. How does that work?

Today, besides Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the internet’s latest obsession is NFT. Understanding this new decentralized blockchain jargon can be a little hard. But not impossible. 

In simple terms, NFTs, digital assets, can represent anything unique and non-fungible. Non-fungibility means it can’t be traded for another piece as it appears to be one, rare, and unique in the world. Hence, there is no chance for replication. 

A tweet, a photo, a drawing, a video, or any unique thing you own can be traded as an NFT on the Ethereum Blockchain for a corresponding amount of Ether as set by you. Although it sounds easy to execute, buying and selling an NFT without guidance isn’t advised, especially for beginners.

NFT can only be bought or sold in an NFT exchange marketplace. This medium of exchange is a blockchain-based platform that allows millions of users to create, mint, sell, and buy NFTs securely. You can set your desired price and see an interested buyer take that rare piece from you. Although there are hundreds of NFT marketplaces, choosing one can be difficult for a beginner. This article will discuss the four best NFT marketplaces for beginners.

What is the blockchain?

Blockchain technology is the future. It’s used to carry out everyday transactions in medicine, security, financial institutions, digital currency, and more. It’s used to facilitate decentralized, secure, and fast transactions. Millions of transactions per second occur every day.

Cryptography isn’t new. It’s been in existence for many years. It’s gradually built momentum to become the infrastructure of choice for cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

The blockchain works via node-to-node connections where transactional records are stored as blocks in decentralized databases on the blockchain. Every transaction is created on a triple-entry book-keeping model that uses a consensus mechanism. It takes a traditional ledger up a notch. 

OpenSea

Founded in 2017, OpenSea is an NFT marketplace developed by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah. It is one of the most popular NFT marketplaces for beginners and one of the pioneer NFT platforms before the emergence of others.

Its stellar user interface is easy for newbies to understand and navigate efficiently. It is also perfect for beginners interested in more minting artworks based on NFTs. Users can mint, buy, and sell sports collectibles, tweets, trading cards, virtual lands, and domain names. You can sell the NFTs at a fixed price set by the owner or via an auction.

How to Get Started With OpenSea

Getting started with OpenSea is very easy as it requires users to download the mobile application on the app store. There, you will be required to connect your wallet. 

Luckily, OpenSea is compatible with a wide range of cryptocurrency wallets, including MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet, TrustWallet, Dipper, Bitski, and Authereum to mention a few. After connecting your wallet, you are then allowed to perform the various functions:

Create Your NFT: Here, users are taken to the NFT create page to upload the artwork or picture. They can also customize the features to their desired taste before selling.

Sell NFT: This process requires the user to set up their desired price for the piece and choose the Blockchain of their creation. Here they can choose a variety as OpenSea offers support across Ethereum, Polygon, and Klatyn. 

Buy NFT: With an Ethereum token in their wallet, users can easily buy through auction or pay a fixed price.

Benefits of OpenSea

OpenSea implements the lazy minting mechanism that gives it an edge over other NFT markets. Lazy minting is a user-centered mechanism that allows you to sell an item without funding the associated wallet. Unlike most NFT marketplaces, users can have an empty token and still put their NFT for sale. The associated fees are added when the NFT is to be minted by the rightful owner.

Alongside this feature, users can choose the time to put up their NFT for sale. It allows them to select whether the NFT can be sold or not through their customizable calendar options.

Rarible

Rarible is a platform that allows digital artists and creators to issue and sell their artworks as crypto assets and also showcases them as verified assets. 

The platform is created on the Ethereum ecosystem. The platform is created on the Ethereum ecosystem. Rarible links budding digital creators with prospective sellers and perform this excellently by leveraging the features of the Ethereum ecosystem. The platform’s unique token, RARI is used by the users to vote on proposals that can positively affect the platform.

How to Get Started in Rarible

To get started, set up a crypto wallet, preferably MetaMask. Set up a Rarible account and link it to your wallet. Through this, you can buy, sell, and trade NFTs comfortably.

After performing the above functions, you can turn the artworks into an NFT by minting. To mint, users are required to fill a mandatory page on the website, attach the image of the artwork, and provide any other additional information such as the name and price. Rarible then turns your artwork into a token on the Ethereum Blockchain that can be easily transferred from one wallet to another. Users can also buy and sell any NFT of their choice.

Benefits Of Rarible

It has no restrictions or barriers to entry before anyone can get involved. Also, digital creators do not require the approval of any centralized body before selling artworks.

Digital art creators can now fully enjoy their proceedings by selling their artwork without middlemen. On Rarible, once a purchase is made, the smart contract sends out the royalties immediately to the creator’s wallet.

LooksRare

LooksRare is a good NFT marketplace for beginners and the first community-oriented marketplace that significantly rewards the traders and creators for participating on the Ethereum-based platform.

The smart contract allows the users access to a wide range of new features like a new set of NFT collections, wider offers, and instant payouts. Its simple UI framework is built with speed, security, and scalability.

How to Get Started With LooksRare

Joining the LooksRare platform is similar to joining any other NFT marketplace. You can connect your wallet through MetaMask on the desktop or through Wallet Connect on Mobile.

Benefits of LooksRare

LOOKS is the standardized token for the Looks platform and has many use cases. Unlike other marketplaces that divert part of the trading fees for personal use, LooksRare rewards 100% of the trading fees to the traders and creators on the platform. You can earn LOOKS by staking, a reward scheme created to rival other NFT marketplaces whose rewards are in single figures. You can also earn LOOKS as a reward when you trade actively on the platform.

SuperRare

For NFT beginners setting out on a more serious note, SuperRare is the perfect NFT marketplace. This platform focuses heavily on art-like NFTs and other premium pieces and is heavily curated and guarded. Although it is relatively easy to join as it requires a wallet, not everyone has the opportunity to mint an NFT.

Artworks must be approved before listing for sale, and they have special releases and exhibitions for interested art lovers and investors. On SuperRare, the seller pays upfront before using the platform, and you join via an invite from an existing user.

How to Get Started With SuperRare

SuperRare requires users to have a verified wallet extension to join your account.

Benefits of SuperRare

Although invitation is strictly by invitation, SuperRare is still rated as one of the best NFT platforms for beginners.

SuperRare is one of the few NFT platforms to have phases. The website, SuperRare 1.0 features a platform strictly based on handpicked artists, while SuperRare 2.0 provides more independency to art creators. SuperRare 2.0 allows digital creators to mint, promote, and transact their artwork seamlessly.

NFT Vulnerability and Security Concerns

The value of an NFT rests in its ability to serve as a unique digital token. It depends on the minting and total supply.

NFT platforms operate with private keys. However, hackers can steal products and compromise the platform. The majority of scams aren’t related to the blockchain itself. The technology is secure. Ponzi scams through emails are common. Malicious actors attempt to gain access through users’ machines asking for passwords and login information to verify the user’s account. 

Final Thoughts

There you have it–four of the best NFT marketplaces for beginners. So, if you have a digital asset that you want to sell, it’s not difficult to get started. Do your homework to find the one that works for you and bring in some extra money

Look for a platform with a solid payment system, top-notch encryption software, and a secure network. You’ll want to avoid exchanges that are prone to hackers. You’ll need a crypto wallet with fiat currency that has been transferred into digital coins to get started.

Keep in mind that decentralized applications aren’t completely regulated and have not seen mainstream adoption. Investing in the cryptocurrency market or other blockchain assets is risky and speculative. Most exchanges utilize blockchain technology, but you’ll still need to do your own research to find a secure platform with solid protocols and software.

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Theresa is a personal finance blogger. She writes content for busy professional women to take control of their money and investments. She enjoys reading, traveling, cooking, and writing. Her work has been featured on GoBanking Rates, Your Money Geek, Savoteur, the Corporate Quitter, Thirty Eight Investing, and more.