Artrade Says it is Set to Disrupt the NFT Space Amidst Token Launch

If anything has made a swift change in the way that we consume and monetize creative work in the 2010s, it has been NFTs. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital representations of an asset on a blockchain and facilitate the verification of authenticity and transfer of ownership of that asset, whether it be digital or physical.

While there have been many applications of NFTs, the creative world has perhaps been the most heavily influenced. These days, everything from digital artwork to tweets is being minted as NFTs and sold, often for considerable amounts of money.

Problem With the NFT Sale Funnel

Many of those who buy these NFTs hear about them on social media and are directed to a number of platforms to buy them. These platforms range from the artists’ official site to NFT marketplaces like Opensea. However, this system so far is not without its flaws. First, there is a disconnect between artists; core audience platforms, and the platforms through which they sell their NFTs.

An artist can post a piece of content on Twitter or Instagram, for example, and redirect their followers to buy it as an NFT but this often is not a seamless process as a new account on another platform will need to be created and this could be discouraging for the buyers.

Additionally, many of the existing platforms for the sale of NFTs have dealt with a number of issues recently. Take Opensea, a popular NFT platform that has had to undergo several site revisions due to vulnerabilities that allowed malicious parties to steal users’ cryptocurrency after offering them a fraudulent NFT.

The issue had been complained about in the community for a while before it was addressed. In addition to this, users of many NFT marketplaces often decry the high fees that come with making a purchase or even selling an NFT. Popular NFT marketplaces charge anywhere from 2% to 20% commission on each minted piece and for smaller creators, this can significantly eat into their profits.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues with the current NFT landscape is that it does not seem to be built for the masses. Even as NFTs become more popular each year, many of these platforms have taken few steps to integrate into larger platforms like social media sites. Additionally, the layout of many of these sites are cluttered and little attention is paid to the user experience.

Many of these platforms also do not allow users to pay in fiat currency. If a person who is new to the world of NFTs wants to buy one, they usually have to buy a different cryptocurrency first before they are able to buy the NFT, which is often a hassle.

While this might have worked in the earlier days of NFTs, the market is on track to be worth even more billions and for this to happen, the NFT marketplace must meet consumers where they are instead of expecting the consumer to come to them. 

Bridging Social Media and NFTs

Because so much of the attention that NFTs receive is from social media and customers are frustrated with the current state of the NFT marketplaces, a new platform claims to simultaneously address all sides.

Artrade is a new platform that claims to act as both — a social media platform and an NFT marketplace. At first glance, its user interface is similar to those of popular social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. This was done deliberately as it allows users to interact with a setup that they are already used to. By doing this, Artrade as an NFT marketplace says it is less intimidating and less of a transition for the user.

On Artrade, users are able to follow specific creators, like, and comment on their content as they would on any other site. However, Artrade also allows its users to view the minted NFTs by the creators on the platform as well as the ones for sale. In the same way that Instagram users can shop directly from the app while viewing content, Artrade users can shop for NFTs from the app.

There is a limit to what can be bought from the app as everything from in-game assets to collectibles is sold. Its seamless design hours the line between social media platforms and the marketplace, allowing the creators and fans to interact with ease while trading.

Users can also pay for the NFTs using either fiat or crypto, eliminating a common entry barrier and creating a more robust ecosystem.

Artrade has also added sustainability as part of its business model. As it grows, the blockchain industry has been under fire for its high environmental impact, especially when it comes to the mining of tokens and minting of NFTs. Artrade is combating this by sharing a portion of its revenue with Climate Partner. By doing this, the firm offsets all the carbon emissions of every NFT minted by them, helping to save the planet in the process.

Creators also have the option to give between 1% to 100% of their proceeds to Binance Charity Wallet as part of their operations. Also, as a result of Artrade using the layer 2 technology Immutable X, it is compatible with all the existing NFT ecosystems but is also relatively cheaper and faster than them, which gives consumers a world of choice.

On November 15, 2021, Artrade released its ATR tokens as part of a community-funded ICO effort. As part of the token ownership system, holders will receive a portion of the ATR rewards earned and will also be able to buy NFTs at a reduced rate. ATR holders will also have the opportunity to vote on strategic community decisions.

The sale, according to Paul Weibel, CEO of Artrade, is bigger than the platform itself and is important for the wider community.

“We are launching our ICO to create the future of NFT by democratizing this technology through an intuitive application using the codes of the most popular social networks and making Artrade the first NFT marketplace dedicated to the mainstream,” he says.

The sale will last well into December and the price per token is $0.02, with a wider goal of raising around $3 million for the expansion of the ecosystem and the development of the app. The token can be bought via Artrade’s official website. This will round out Artrade’s 2021 efforts and comes right after the UX and UI function of the app were perfected. 

Besides buying the ATR token from Artrade’s website, users can also receive the token for staking their NFTs or can stake their existing ATR tokens to receive more interest.

Social Future of NFTs?

A few things are clear within the blockchain industry at this point. The first is that NFTs will not be disappearing anytime soon but will only grow in popularity (current stats show that there are more buyers of NFTs than there are sellers). It is also clear that marketplaces for NFTs need to make more of an effort to be accessible to consumers.

The existing barriers to entry must be removed and this is where platforms like Atrtrade come in. By allowing consumers to view and purchase NFTs as easily as they do on other social media platforms, more access is created.

Moving forward, the company believes that platforms like theirs will play a major role in the progress of NFTs as a whole.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. The content was purely for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.