NFTs have been around for a few years, but 2021 saw a mammoth rise in their popularity, and India has not been slow in accepting blockchain-powered non-fungible tokens. The global NFT trading volume soared to over USD 23 billion in 2021, and while India is not at the forefront yet, the trend is gaining traction by the day. The latest Union Budget announcements regulating a tax on crypto all but only encouraged crypto investors to buy more. With actors, cricketers, and singers, including Amitabh Bachchan, rolling out their NFT, marketplaces are gaining momentum. We have curated a one-stop list of the top NFT marketplaces in India.
Wazirx
Founded in 2018, WazirX is an Indian cryptocurrency exchange with over 7.3 million users (as of August 2021). In 2021, it was acquired by the crypto trading platform Binanceit and launched its NFT marketplace dedicated to regional, indie and traditional creators. The platform was also known to host the first NFT exhibition, musical NFTs, and is popularly known to be a good option for starters. Built on Binance Smart Chain, WazirX charges 5% service fees; creators get the rest of the proceedings. Bloomberg reported WazirX’s transaction fees are lower compared to Ethereum based marketplaces. WazirX hit $38 billion trading in a year record by November 2021 and even crashed after heavy user activity was seen following news of the Indian government’s cryptocurrency bill decision in Parliament.
Jupiter Meta
Jupiter Meta has just launched what it calls India’s first fully curated NFT marketplace, focused on creating singular metaverse experiences through film, music and games. For instance, their ‘Icons of Singara Chennai’ maps the city’s culture through digital art NFTs of monuments, food and beaches. Jupiter Meta was founded in 2021 to trade NFTs and various creative and cultural segments with its built-in metaverse. The marketplace promises fixed prices and a personalised experience. It is backed by Rubix blockchain technology of level-1 and has 0 gas fees.
Beyondlife
Popularly known for the ‘Amitabh NFT’, Beyondlife is the marketplace for celebrities and fans. It is one of the most trusted marketplaces with its ‘First Rare Art NFT Collection’ and has introduced bestselling NFTs, including Hindustan Times NFT and Stan Lee’s Chakra the Invincible. The platform enables artists, several brands, and creators to mint and sell their NFTs within three minutes.
Bollycoin
Described as a bridge between Bollywood and the blockchain, Bollycoin is an NFT marketplace devoted to collections inspired by or based on Bollywood projects. Last year, the platform made headlines with their Dabangg collection in collaboration with Salman Khan. In addition, Bollycoin offers movie clips, posters, and stills, among other collectables. Their crypto-coin can be used to purchase the NFTs, and members are set to get royalties based on their activity.
Colexion
Colexion is claimed to be one of Asia’s largest licensed NFT marketplaces for digital artists to buy and sell their art. They have also enabled digital tokens in the form of trump cards and are in the works of creating the world’s largest NFT digital museum where users can meet with celebrities and know about their journeys. It also integrates sports personalities as game avatars on their gaming platform and allows players to own, trade and sell their avatars and commodities.
BuyUCoin
Since 2016, BuyUcoin has been a leading Indian crypto exchange that serves over 350,000 users and handles $300M+ in digital asset transactions with its parent company. The company’s mission is “To bring crypto in a billion Indian pockets” and supports users to buy, sell and trade 33 cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Stellar, among many others. Additionally, it allows users to leverage UPI for the financial aspects. The platform charges a 0.24% maker fee.
Nifty Gateway
Nifty Gateway and their NFTs’ nifties’ was known in blockchain history for their selling of Beeple’s NFT and artists like Grimes and LOGIK. The NFTs on Nifty Gateway are stored in a secured wallet and powered by Gemini’s state-of-the-art custody technology. This allows the platform to levy 0% gas fees for the artists. Every three weeks, Nifties are released as a limited edition.
Rarible
Launched in 2020, Rarible was ranked as the top NFT marketplace, especially given RARI, their native ERC-20 governance token. They have two tokens; ERC-721, for the creation of unique one-off items, and ERC-1155, for creating multiple editions of an item. Rarible’s tokens are also used on platforms such as OpenSea is one of the few decentralised autonomous organisations of today because it enables its customers to make all decisions themselves. NFT tokens are also used on OpenSea, another renowned platform accessible via this marketplace.
Foundation
A P2P NFT marketplace, Foundation’s NFTs collaborate with digital art creators, crypto natives, and collectors. Foundation aims to encourage culture and bring forward marginalised voices. With their focus mainly on digital art, artists need to create a profile and apply for an Upvote Program on the platform, where the community will further vote and accept applications. Foundation’s completely women-driven team decides the artwork displayed and ensures the artist receives 10% of the sale every time a collector resells their digital artwork to another individual.
