Coinbase Drops Free Ethereum NFT Via Zora
Base, a layer-2 scaling network for Ethereum built in collaboration with Optimism, was announced today by Coinbase. To commemorate the occasion, Coinbase has released a free open edition Ethereum NFT for anyone to mint—but not through Coinbase’s own struggling NFT marketplace.
“Base, Introduced” is a free NFT made available by Coinbase via Zora, an NFT minting platform and startup focusing on Web3 creator tools. Because it’s an open edition NFT, anyone can claim one of the identical collectibles until the minting window closes on Sunday, with a limit of one NFT per wallet.
Since Base’s announcement this morning, over 24,000 Ethereum NFTs have been minted. As a result, the NFT’s smart contract—which contains the code that powers the project—has become the Ethereum network’s largest “gas guzzler,” consuming over $271,000 in gas in the last three hours.
Although Zora is a popular NFT minting platform for Web3 developers, Coinbase already has its own NFT marketplace. However, since its launch last spring, Coinbase NFT has gained very little traction, with public blockchain data showing less than $8,000 in total NFT trading volume over the past week.
Compare that to $596 million in trading volume at Blur, the top NFT marketplace that recently surpassed longtime leader OpenSea on the back of whale traders flipping assets in a race to maximise BLUR token trading rewards.
Coinbase NFT displays the Base, Introduced NFTs on its marketplace, but these are secondary listings posted by Zora users. Despite having “a very lean team on it now,” Coinbase President and COO Emilie Choi stated on an earnings call this week that the exchange is “not throwing in the towel” on its NFT ambitions.
The exchange’s NFT marketplace has previously supported NFT mints, including significant drops such as The Bill Murray 1,000. However, the company confirmed earlier this month that it “paused” creator drops on Coinbase NFT to push resources towards other features on the marketplace.
(With inputs from Shikha Singh)
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