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Kraken is one of the leading crypto assets exchanges offering crypto services to millions of clients globally. Following the craze for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) the exchange is working on introducing its own marketplace. Notably, as there is already a notable count of such marketplaces available, the crypto platform is adding some unique features for its upcoming project. According to Jesse Powell, the founder and CEO of Kraken, the exchange is working on a NFT marketplace that could appeal to clients who want to do more than just collecting crypto art.
What services would Kraken NFT marketplace bring?
According to the CEO of the firm, the upcoming marketplace would offer custody services. Moreover, the exchange is considering a system where clients can use their Non-Fungible Tokens as collateral to borrow funds against.
According to Powell, if a user deposits a CryptoPunk on their platform, they want to be able to reflect the value of such an asset in their account. Later if the owner of the asset will borrow funds against that, the exchange would determine the liquidation value of the asset deposited. Hence, Kraken is working on bringing such a system to determine liquidation.
NFTs will now have functional use cases
According to Powell, 2021 will end as the industry’s history, when crypto and NFTs went mainstream. This year the crypto ecosystem has seen a flood of new participants. Notably, many of the participants’ introduction has been through NFTs.
Following the scenario, Kraken CEO highlighted that it is kind of shocking, as for the first 10 years since BTC has been established they are trying to sell individuals on why they should be interested in the coin. He further explained that the concept of digital collectibles existed in the early days as well. However, it seems like the industry waited for the right combination of events that really got people talking about the ecosystem.
Indeed, these crypto collectibles came as a way for people who got rich off their crypto gains to show off a very expensive Twitter profile picture. According to Powell, the first phase for NFTs was speculation. Phase two of the space is buying art and supporting artists. And now the next phase is going to be functional uses of these tokens.
Why is the exchange looking to enter the NFTs space?
According to Kraken founder, the push to NFTs came following large competitors like Binance and FTX launching their own platform. Besides, the exchange also noted that millions have already signed up for Coinbase’s upcoming NFT waitlist. Following the scenario, the platform said that it is looking to enter the NFTs ecosystem by earlier next year. Furthermore, Powell highlighted that the firm is trying to compete with OpenSea, which is one of the largest marketplaces available yet.