We may soon be seeing a new competitor enter into the ever-expanding NFT marketplace ecosystem. To close out the year, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke — who recently purchased the ENS name tobi.eth — has announced Shopify’s plans to enable its users to mint and sell NFTs.
Having opened applications for its beta program to US-based Plus merchants, Shopify will soon empower a select few to mint NFTs onto popular blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Near, and Flow. The platform will allow users to make payments via Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, crypto payment gateways, credit/debit cards and more.
Considering NFT sales skyrocketed to $10.7B in Q3 alone this year, it’s no surprise that Shopify is aiming to join the NFT ecosystem. While we’ve seen Coinbase and Sotheby’s pivot and enter into the world of NFTs, each with its own unique marketplace offering, Shopify is poised to be one of the first e-commerce brands to make the transition into the world of non-fungibles.
As we’ve seen Shopify support the NFT sales of Superplastic, the Chicago Bulls, Big Face and others throughout the year, while news of this impending Shopify beta program may have been predictable, it poses the new question of when we might see other e-commerce giants sprout their own marketplaces. With Shopify experiencing record-breaking sales this year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s no telling just how much NFT sales might bolster the Canadian brand’s yearly figures.
Currently, the beta program is only open to brands, artists, and creators with “an established social media presence” that are also US-based merchants on Shopify Plus. To learn more about the beta program, visit the Shopify NFT website here.
By: Langston Thomas
nftnow.com
