In an increasingly crowded marketplace for marketplaces, Binance is going on the offensive with a business development push aimed at bringing “100 Creators” to their forthcoming nonfungible token (NFT) platform.
In a press release today, Binance announced an NFT drop from Misha Most, a noted street artist who currently holds the world record for the largest wall mural. Most will be making 10 NFTs in collaboration with other artists, and the pieces will be available for sale in the first week of launch of the marketplace, currently scheduled for June 24th.
“Digital art is imbued with the spirit of the community. As a street artist, it’s very close to me, and I’m used to working in a team with other creators,” said Most in the press release. “Working on NFT is a unique opportunity for me to collaborate with digital artists. For me, the transformation of familiar works into digital art is primarily an experiment, and real art is about that.”
Most joins a host of other artists, celebrities and athletes who have been courted by Binance, including soccer players Michael Owen and Alphonso Davis, singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi and artist Trevor Jones.
Stay tuned for my collab release on the new #NFT platform from @binance @BinanceRussian ⚡️⚡️ https://t.co/1KluGlfuIJ #binancenft pic.twitter.com/uk41Mjoufp
— Misha Most (@misha_most) May 26, 2021
The broad range of “creators” reflects a harsh competitive reality for NFT marketplaces: users rarely have any loyalty to a particular chain, platform, or product, and a growing number of companies — including e-commerce giant eBay — intend to be the ones selling shovels during the new digital gold rush.
As a result, the only way for a platform to stand out to collectors is with attractive intellectual property and licensing — and on this front Binance appears to be casting a wide net in the hopes that a broad range of voices will attract a similarly broad range of users.
“100 Creators Campaign is one of the campaigns that are prepared by Binance NFT, and it is to support and promote innovative creators from around the world and spotlight NFT pieces from different cultures,” said Binance PR manager Lily Lee in an interview with Cointelegraph. “With this campaign, we hope to be able to access users from different regions.”
So far, Flow has managed to secure a dominant portion of market share on the back of a partnership with the NBA. While prices for their Top Shot collectible highlights have retreated as of late, their daily total volume still routinely ranks in the top three on DapprRadar.
However, multiple other platforms have been throwing elbows as of late in an effort to secure a sliver of the market. ConsenSys-backed Palm is launching with a drop from renowned British artist Damien Hirst, and likewise, WAX has been attempting to make inroads with baseball cards giant Topps.
