Coinbase opens NFT marketplace to rival OpenSea

American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the beta launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Wednesday. The company had initially talked about plans for an NFT platform as early as October 2021, but has only been able to launch publicly today.

At the end of April, the company provided early access to a select group of invited users. While the number of users remains undisclosed, it is known that in the debut beta week, the platform only saw 900 transactions and 73 ether (around $210,000) worth of sales volume.

Last month, at a media briefing, Sanchan Saxena, Vice President of Product at Coinbase, announced that the NFT marketplace would be debuting with zero transaction fees for a limited time period. This move is designed to be able to entice users from the dominant NFT platforms such as OpenSea .

Another attempt to grow the userbase comes with a series of NFT partnerships, including with Yuga Labs' highly popular Bored Ape Yacht Club series. Yuga Labs plans to premiere a film trilogy on the Bored Ape Yacht Club at the upcoming NFT.NYC in New York City in June.