With the growing number of people becoming aware of the NFT space, more NFT marketplaces are coming into existence. Recently, the largest crypto marketplace (in terms of trading volume) – Binance – launched an NFT marketplace. With an average daily trading volume of $3.88 billion in 2020 and over 313,000 daily active users Binance joining the NFT space is a huge testament to the NFT world. The marketplace has some unique features which we will discuss in this article.
Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, launched an NFT marketplace; the platform allows users to buy, sell, and trade a variety of digital assets. The marketplace runs primarily off the Binance smart chain but works cohesively with the Ethereum network; this allows users to view ETH-based NFTs in their Binance wallet.
The Binance smart chain – like it’s competitors – works through minting or tokenizing digital assets. This means digital items are stored on the blockchain and allows users to have proof of ownership. The marketplace works using the cryptocurrency coin created by Binance (BNB) to pay for the minting of NFTs; this is known as a gas fee.
Gas fees are the reward miners receive for minting an NFT when the transaction needs to be verified on the blockchain. Users are only able to participate in the NFT action if they hold BNB, BUSD (a USD stablecoin; 1 USD = 1 BUSD), and ETH.
The Binance NFT marketplace offers three distinct capabilities; the first includes a marketplace for the purchasing and selling of NFTs. The second is Events, which are a product line that enables users to purchase NFTs from well known creators, including digital artists, athletes, musicians, as well as other social media influencers. The final aspect is perhaps the most unique: the Binance NFT marketplace offers mystery boxes. All purchases box includes four separate tiers – normal, rare, super rare, and super super rare.
When Did Binance Launch an NFT Marketplace?
With more and more hype surrounding NFTs it is inevitable that more marketplaces will be launched as crypto focused companies want to get in on the action; these companies are looking to make profit through receiving commissions on sales, sell their own NFTs, and in the case of the Binance marketplace, the company can promote their cryptocurrency coin as transactions are processed using the BNB coin.
Binance informed the public of the NFT marketplace in April of 2021 and it officially launched on June 24, 2021. At launch the site released three unique offerings – “Premium Event”, “100 Creators” program, and the first Binance mystery box.
At launch, the first slate of influencers who created NFTs exclusively on the Binance NFT marketplace were released in their “Premium Event”. This included celebrities such as the retired English football (soccer) star Michel Owen and Esports team eStarPro. The first premium event also focused on works from Salvador Dali and even had a tribute to the original work of Andy Warhol.
The surrealist artist, Salvador Dali, created 101 watercolor drawings at the beginning of the Renaissance and it marked an important time in history; that time and artwork documented the switch from the Middle Ages to Modern times.
The Binance launch featured a series of digital recreations by the community as a tribute to the famous Spanish artist and the works were chosen to represent the switch we are experiencing today – from physical art to NFTs.
The “100 Creators” program launched, featuring innovative but not widely-known creators. The goal of “100 Creators” is to make these creators more mainstream in the NFT space. Malaysian artist, Red Hong Yi who has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine released her first collection of NFTs.
The first mystery box was released as well – these digital collectables were an enormous success and managed to completely sell out in under one minute.
What Are Binance’s NFT Mystery Boxes?
As previously mentioned Binance also came out with a mystery box which is essentially purchasing a card from a set in which super super rare is the best card you could receive but of course also the most unlikely to be received. This could be thought of as purchasing a key to unlock a chest, similar to online gaming’s loot boxes; in this case, you have the opportunity to hold an NFT that could retain its value or increase in value depending on the market and scarcity.
The Binance mystery box is a digital collectable pertaining to a specific brand. It appears that Binance intends to have each infrequent release feature a unique brand. The first mystery box was a collection from the Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand tokidoki and sold out in less than a minute.
Tokidoki was created by Italian artist Simone Legno. The company has accumulated a dedicated following for it’s physical tokidoki. tokidoki fans purchased 110,000 digital tokidoki in less than a minute!
The gamified collection featured 16 collectables – the percentage chance of receiving each one is listed below. For the first collection, each box was 20 BUSD (since this is a stable coin, this is US$20).
| Name of NFT | Rank | # Minted |
| Gold BNB Dragon Unicorn | Legendary | 10 |
| Black BNB Unicorn | Super Super Rare | 734 |
| Black BNB Salaryman | Super Rare | 1714 |
| Miso, Biscotti, and Atena | Rare | 22050 |
| Tokimeki, Liberty, Mekacorno U9, Kaiju Tokimon, Acquaria, Miss Tropicool, Donutella, Bianco Latte, Sneaky Snacker, and Sandy | Common | 98000 |
A unique feature that Binance added is the ability to hold the mystery box without opening it. This gamification means that these unopened boxes can be resold and could be more profitable than opening the box. Another unique aspect from the launch is the decision to only allow a select few people to mint NFTs.
Given that the Mystery Box sold out in literally one minute, our team here at NFTexplained.info thinks the mystery box collectables have a high possibility of frequently selling out fast as the market for collecting digitally grows.
While the mystery box isn’t anything revolutionary in the NFT space it is interesting to see the amount of demand for the collectables made by Binance. Our team at NFTexplained.info is looking forward to other crypto-based companies joining the NFT space.
As a general statement users of Binance are typically more invested in cryptocurrencies as the majority of people frequent the exchange because more alt coins are available to be purchased when compared to Coinbase. The NFT space is still relatively new and an exchange of this size joining the marketplace will definitely bring more attention to NFTs.
What is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC)?
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is a blockchain that runs alongside the Binance Chain and supports Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and smart contracts. It uses a proof of stake authority consensus model (21 validators are chosen each day based on the users with the highest amount of BNB coins and receive commission or gas fees for validating transactions) which is more environmentally conscious than alternate approaches.
The first chain from Binance was created in April of 2018 and is known as the Binance chain. The company chose a ‘tendermint’ consensus algorithmic model which allows for transactions to be instantly finalized. It was built for high speed transactions at a large scale however lacked the ability to create smart contracts; it also didn’t allow developers to deploy their own code on the Binance chain and create DApps. As a result, traffic on the Binance blockchain was low.
In September of 2020 Binance created the Binance smart chain. The more improved network allowed for smart contracts and for developers to build off it; it also worked in parallel to the Binance Chain. If you are interested in becoming a smart contract expert, our team has created the perfect article for you.
The Binance smart chain was appealing because it used a different consensus model than Ethereum which allowed for lower fees. If you are interested in learning about the algorithmic model used by Ethereum and what causes the high energy use on NFTs built on the Ethereum network, click here. Ethereum uses a more costly proof of work consensus algorithm whereas the Binance smart chain used a proof of stake authority algorithm consensus model.
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and NFTs
The Binance Smart Chain is popular for NFTs as the tokenization and minting process has much lower fees as compared to other blockchains. This is because BSC uses a proof of stake authority consensus model. High speed, low transaction fees, and the ability to create DApps on BSC makes it appealing for more than NFTs.
In the proof of stake authority model, miners are non-existent as nobody is competing amongst one another to solve arbitrary math problems to verify transactions. Miners drive higher transaction fees as they compete amongst one another and use a lot more energy.
Instead, the BSC chooses 21 validators (those with the highest amount of BNB) to verify transactions; those validators are preselected to verify the transaction and receive a reward known as the gas fee. This keeps the gas fee low as no miners are performing duplicative calculations using lots of energy; in the proof of work consensus model miners are rewarded for block-by-block verification.
How do I make my own NFT on BSC?
There are numerous platforms to choose from when looking to mint an NFT on a BSC marketplace. Examples include BakerySwap and Juggerworld. Minting requires gas fees to be paid; make sure you can pay for this process. As long as the token type is supported, the NFT can be transferred to numerous marketplaces.
The majority of wallets support ETH and BSC. Our team here at NFTexplained.info would recommend using the MetaMask wallet as it supports numerous blockchains. If you want an in depth guide as to how MetaMask works and how to set one up; click here.
Uploading an NFT to be tokenized or minted is a pretty straight-forward process. It is important to note that a wallet must be connected for this process to be made possible. Simply go to the marketplace in which you would like to mint the NFT, upload the digital work, fill out some information about the NFT you are going to sell, simply hit ‘mint’, and then finally pay the price for the transaction to be verified on the blockchain (the minting fee).
Can Binance Hold NFTs?
Binance can hold BEP-721 and BEP-1155 which are the Binance Smart Chain NFT standard tokens. Binance can also hold ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standard tokens (from the Ethereum blockchain). Wallets like MetaMask can also be connected to the Binance NFT marketplace.
Binance Chain Wallet enables users to access the Binance Smart Chain, Binance Chain, and Ethereum. ETH based NFTs can be stored in a Binance Chain Wallet and Binance standard NFTs tokens can also be stored; wallets can also interact (send and receive digital items).
What Crypto Does the Binance NFT Marketplace Support?
BNB, BUSD, and ETH can all be used to interact with the Binance NFT marketplace. The marketplace allows sales to be in two formats; an Auction (where users can place a bid in a fixed timeframe) or a fixed Price format where users can “Buy Now” or make a lower offer to the creator.
One helpful characteristic of the Binance NFT marketplace user interface is the confirmation pop ups you must acknowledge before following through with a purchase. This pop up is displayed for all purchasing types; even when a user attempts to purchase an NFT with insufficient crypto funds, a pop up appears telling the user to purchase one of the three supported cryptocurrencies.
If you would like to read about OpenSea a seperate NFT marketplace, click here.
We hope you are just as excited as we are about NFTs and continue to stay informed at NFTexplained.info. To get the latest news in this rapidly evolving space, follow our team on Instagram & Twitter!
