FTX.US Launches NFT Minting Platform

Sam Bankman-Fried, whose crypto exchange is the latest to try to get a piece of the booming NFT market, sold his “Test” NFT for $270,000.

By Eliza Gkritsi

Sep 6, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 7, 2021 at 7:46 p.m. UTC

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (CoinDesk) — FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover."

Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter based in Asia.

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Crypto derivatives exchange FTX launched a minting platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its U.S. version today, the exchange’s founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, tweeted.

“Make your own NFTs,” he tweeted, followed by a fire emoji, the link to the minting platform and an NFT he minted as an example.
The NFTs will be built cross-chain on Solana and Ethereum, Bankman-Fried said. Deposits, including those of NFTs not built on FTX.US, and withdrawals will open up in a couple of weeks, he tweeted.
The move deepens the exchange’s competition with NFT-focused platforms like OpenSea and Rarible, which have seen their daily trading volumes soar in recent months, as well as Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
FTX’s U.S. and global sites previously included NFT marketplaces, but did not allow users to mint their own tokens. To list NFTs, creators would have to get in touch with the exchange.
A few NFTs have already been minted on the FTX.US platform, including one that asks whether NFTs are a “tulipmania,” referring to a speculative market bubble in the Netherlands in the 17th century.
The platform subsequently introduced a one-time fee of $500 after being spammed by pictures of a fish.

Bankman-Fried’s test NFT sold for $270,000 around 06:15 UTC (2:15 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, according to the FTX.US site.
The latest bid on Bankman-Fried’s example NFT is $1,100 at the time of writing. The work is the word “Test” written on a white background.
In July, FTX was valued at $18 billion after a $900 million funding round.

UPDATE (SEPT. 6, 14:52 UTC): Adds introduction of one-time fee.

UPDATE (SEPT. 7, 07:31 UTC): Adds Bankman-Fried’s test NFT sold.

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