Invisible Infrastructure 07｜Dialogue with OKX Web3: Demand, Trends, and Technologies that Create OKX Marketplace

The NFT market is not as hot as it was in 2021, but it is not accurate to think that NFT has cooled down. Since CryptoKitties set off a craze for the NFT concept in 2017, NFT has gradually expanded from the art field to sports, music, virtual real estate, etc., and its market application has become more and more extensive. In 2021, Beeples Everydays: The First 5000 Days was sold for US$69 million, marking the peak moment of NFT.

Today, as the market tends to be rational and innovative, investors and developers are still confident in the technical potential and business prospects of NFT. For example, the birth of inscriptions and runes in the Bitcoin ecosystem are new evolutions of NFT. At the same time, competition among major platforms such as OKX, SuperRare, and OpenSea is becoming increasingly fierce, and the future application scenarios of NFT are still broad. Among them, the OKX Marketplace has quickly become one of the important platforms in the NFT field since its launch, relying on its strong multi-chain support, flexible user experience, and innovative trading model.

Compared with other NFT markets, OKX Marketplace provides a more convenient user interface, diversified asset support, and strong liquidity. Through these advantages, it has attracted a large number of artists, collectors, and users to participate. Invisible Infrastructure 07 will focus on the underlying design of the OKX NFT market. Through dialogue, it will deeply explore the construction and cognition of the OKX Web3 NFT team in terms of products, hoping to help users better understand NFT trading tools.

How to understand the evolution of the NFT market

OKX Web3: We can understand the evolution of the NFT market from multiple aspects including technological innovation, market demand, NFT culture and practical applications.

1. Origin and concept stage (2014-2017)

The concept of NFT dates back to 2014, when the Colored Coins project first demonstrated the possibility of using blockchain technology to represent digital assets. However, what really attracted widespread attention was CryptoKitties in 2017, an Ethereum-based collectible game that allows users to buy, sell and breed crypto cats. This game showed that blockchain technology can not only process transactions, but also manage unique digital assets, thus creating the prototype of the NFT market.

2. Development and boom (2020-2021)

2020 is a year of rapid expansion of the NFT market, mainly due to the rise of DeFi and public chain ecology. NFT is no longer limited to works of art, but has also begun to be applied to music, virtual real estate and games. For example, platforms such as OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRare have begun to be widely used. Among them, OKX Marketplace is a platform that has rapidly risen in this wave. The OKX market has not only consolidated its market position by supporting a multi-chain trading environment, but also demonstrated its unique advantages in the industry through the leading Bitcoin NFT ecosystem construction.

In 2021, the NFT market experienced explosive growth. This year, Beeples Everydays: The First 5000 Days was sold for $69 million, marking the highlight of the NFT market. The transaction volume of NFT reached $2.5 billion in 2021, covering multiple fields such as art, sports collectibles, and gaming assets. This year, NFT has gradually become a part of mainstream culture, and many brands and celebrities have joined the creation and sale of NFTs.

3. Market Adjustment and Cooling-off Period (2022)

In 2022, with the overall volatility of the crypto market, the NFT market also experienced an adjustment, with a decrease in trading volume and a more rational price. This period is regarded as a cooling-off period in the market, with less speculative funds, but long-term holders and truly interested investors still pay attention to NFTs. At this stage, the application scenarios of NFTs are more diversified, including not only artworks, but also virtual real estate, music copyrights, social tokens, etc. Major platforms have also introduced more technical optimizations, such as reducing transaction fees and improving user experience.

4. Continuous innovation and maturity of NFT (2023-present)

Currently, the NFT market is gradually entering a mature stage from a frenzy. Many platforms such as OKX Marketplace and Magic Eden have multi-chain support, smart contract innovation, and wide application in the metaverse, which has promoted the diversified development of the NFT market. On the technical level, emerging Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon and Immutable X have further reduced transaction fees and improved user experience. NFT is no longer just a speculative tool, and more brands and companies are exploring its application in the metaverse, games, identity authentication and other fields. With technological innovation, NFT is bringing more practical application value to digital ownership and asset management.

What are the core functions that OKX Marketplace provides to users?

OKX Web3: Let’s briefly list the core features of OKX Marketplace

1. Deep support for the Bitcoin ecosystem

OKX Marketplace has demonstrated strong innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Although Bitcoin was not originally designed to support smart contracts or NFTs, with the development of new technologies such as Ordinals and Bitcoin Inscriptions, the Bitcoin ecosystem is rapidly integrating into the NFT market and promoting a more prosperous Bitcoin ecosystem. We took the lead in supporting Bitcoin NFT-related protocols and asset transactions, such as Ordinals and Runes, and became one of the first markets in the world to support Bitcoin NFT transactions, especially in terms of innovative tools in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and continued to occupy a leading position.

2. Multi-chain support, connecting mainstream and emerging chain ecosystems

In addition to Bitcoin, OKX Marketplace also supports nearly 40 mainstream blockchains, including Ethereum, TON, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Scroll, etc. Through extensive multi-chain support, we provide users with a one-stop service to facilitate them to manage and trade NFT assets in different blockchain networks, enhancing the compatibility and practicality of the platform.

3. Aggregate multi-market transactions to achieve one-stop service

OKX Marketplace aggregates orders from multiple mainstream NFT markets including OpenSea, Blur, Magic Eden, Tensor, etc., providing a cross-platform trading experience. Users can directly trade the best NFT orders from different markets on our platform without switching to different applications. This model not only improves the user experience, but also makes OKX Marketplace the first choice for NFT traders and collectors.

4. Zero-fee transactions benefit more users

OKX Marketplace has greatly reduced the transaction costs of users through its zero-fee strategy. This innovation not only enhances the market competitiveness of the platform, but also attracts and benefits a large number of users and creators to choose OKX Marketplace for transactions. Especially for users active in the Bitcoin ecosystem, zero fees further promote the lowering of the threshold for NFT participation and promote the circulation and popularization of Bitcoin and other ecosystems.

5. Powerful data analysis tools to empower user decision-making

OKX Marketplace provides users with comprehensive data analysis tools to help them gain insights into market trends and asset performance. These tools not only help users track the performance of emerging assets such as Bitcoin inscriptions and runes in real time, but also provide collectors with detailed market analysis, such as K-line; and historical transaction data, such as real-time rankings, to help them make informed decisions.

OKX Marketplace and Bitcoin Ecosystem

OKX Web3: The innovative development of the Bitcoin ecosystem has injected new vitality into the NFT market, and OKX Marketplace is one of the main forces driving this process. Bitcoin Inscriptions was originally a new way to record art and data on the Bitcoin chain, and we quickly supported this feature, allowing users to mint, trade and manage Bitcoin Inscription assets directly on the platform. This support not only improves the usability of the Bitcoin network, but also opens up new asset classes.

In addition, OKX is the first in the industry to support Runes and Fractal Bitcoin protocols, further promoting the expansion of the Bitcoin ecosystem. In particular, Fractal Bitcoin uses sharding technology to optimize the storage and processing efficiency of Bitcoin NFTs. With our leading technology and innovative awareness, we have become a leader in this field. OKX Marketplace provides powerful tools for the Bitcoin ecosystem:

1. Deep integration of Bitcoin NFT tools

OKX Marketplace provides a complete set of tool support for Bitcoin NFT users, including Bitcoin rune casting, rune management, and Fractal Bitcoin rune trading tools. Users can directly participate in various NFT operations in the Bitcoin ecosystem through the OKX Web3 wallet. Not only is the operation simple, but it also provides comprehensive developer documentation, greatly improving the Bitcoin NFT trading experience.

2. NFT minting and issuance to help creators

OKX Marketplace provides users with convenient NFT minting tools, supporting multiple chains including Ethereum. Creators can easily create and publish NFTs through the platform, and set up an exclusive royalty mechanism to provide them with a stable source of income. This feature greatly reduces the threshold for NFT creation and issuance, attracting more artists and developers to participate in the ecosystem.

3. Real-time data and rankings

We also provide a wealth of market data tools to help users track market trends and NFT performance in real time. Especially in the inscription market, users can view the rankings, trading volume, market price, K-line and other data of related assets to provide them with accurate market information support.

4. OKX Drops and exclusive NFT release

OKX Marketplace regularly launches exclusive NFT projects, providing users with the opportunity to purchase rare NFTs through events such as OKX Drops. These limited-edition NFTs not only increase the appeal of the platform, but also bring users a unique collection experience.

How to think about the combination of user needs, market trends and products

OKX Web3: During the development process, OKX Marketplace always focuses on user needs and is guided by market trends. First, through data analysis and user feedback, we identify the pain points and needs of users in NFT transactions and collections, such as the complexity of cross-chain asset management, high fees, and low market data transparency. Based on these user feedback, we introduced features such as multi-chain support, zero fees, and real-time data analysis, aiming to simplify the user experience and lower the threshold for entering the NFT market.

When we evaluate the priority of new features, we consider three key dimensions:

1. Urgency of user needs: We will prioritize solving widespread user pain points in the market and quickly adjust products through continuous user surveys and feedback mechanisms.

2. Changes in market trends: The NFT market is developing extremely rapidly, so when iterating products, we will pay close attention to market dynamics, such as support for emerging blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin Inscription assets.

3. Technical feasibility and innovation: OKX Marketplace combines the latest blockchain technology trends, such as Bitcoin inscriptions, runes, Fractal Bitcoin, etc., to launch innovative features while maintaining the technical feasibility of the product, ensuring that new features can be quickly launched and provide users with a stable user experience.

Although the NFT market has experienced rapid growth and then a cold market in recent years, the market still faces challenges such as high volatility, high technical barriers, and insufficient user education. Especially in the field of Bitcoin NFT, although new assets and new protocols emerge in an endless stream, it will take time for the market to mature. OKX Marketplace actively responds to these challenges, and through continuous technological innovation, closely integrating user needs and market trends, it brings users cutting-edge functions and seamless trading experience.

Innovation Directions and Future Challenges

OKX Web3: We have witnessed the NFT markets cycle from initial proof of concept to explosive growth, and then to market adjustments and technological innovation. In the long run, we remain optimistic about this field. With the continuous innovation of industry technology, the NFT market will usher in larger-scale applications and innovations, especially driven by the Bitcoin ecosystem. NFT will not only occupy an important position in digital art, but will also show unique value in more fields such as finance, games, ticketing and virtual reality.

While continuously expanding its Bitcoin NFT ecosystem support, OKX Marketplace is also actively exploring more functional innovations. On the one hand, we plan to further optimize the user experience, access more networks, and provide users and project parties with a full range of services in terms of user experience, primary and secondary market support, and developer documentation.

On the other hand, we are also exploring more GameFi functions, expanding the application scenarios of NFTs through the combination of NFTs and games, and promoting innovations in the fields of RWA (Real world asset) in-game asset transactions and virtual real estate. This will bring users more abundant usage scenarios and further promote the popularization and application of the NFT market. In the future, we will continue to promote the development of the NFT industry through technological innovation and product optimization, especially in the field of Bitcoin ecology and GameFi, and strive to provide users with more diversified choices and experiences.

Disclaimer

This content is for reference only and does not constitute and should not be considered as (i) investment advice or recommendation, (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell or hold digital assets, or (iii) financial, accounting, legal or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of such information. Digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) are subject to market fluctuations, involve high risks, may depreciate in value, or even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation and risk tolerance. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professional for your specific situation. Not all products are available in all regions. For more details, please refer to the OKX Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure Disclaimer. OKX Web3 Mobile Wallet and its derivative services are subject to separate terms of service. Please be responsible for understanding and complying with local applicable laws and regulations.