eBay Announces Acquisition NFT Marketplace KnownOrigin

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) continues to deepen its footprint in digital collectables. The e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the U.K-based non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace KnownOrigin. The terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.

The latest acquisition is important for eBay's tech-led reimagination as part of the company’s effort to develop a top destination platform for digital artwork collectables as well as sales.

Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, talked about the development: "we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectables. KnownOrigin has built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers."

Since established in 2018 in Manchester, UK, KnownOrigin has remained a marketplace that allows collectors and artists to create, purchase, and resell NFTs via blockchain-support transactions. Since its establishment, KnownOrigin has witnessed huge growth and trade volumes as it has revolutionized the way users create, buy, and sell NFTs.

eBay's tech-led reimagination has resulted in massive upgrades to the firm's technology, performance and customer experience, including tools making it easier to discover, buy and sell anything.

As a part of such reinvention, last month, eBay started allowing the buying and selling of NFTs with the launch of its first collection of NFTs in partnership with web3 platform OneOf. The firm said the surge in the collectables market led to its first-ever collaboration in the NFT landscape.

Rising Demands of NFT

Crypto has shown its potential to the world about its real efficiency and shaping the economy of the digital era. Likewise, NFTs, a niche of cryptocurrency, has created another way of reaching the top, building what crypto took years to develop in decades.

NFTs have created a way for the artists and many other professionals to showcase and mint their works as NFTs. It is a great diversion in the crypto era where users began working on mining their NFTs.

The NFT market has introduced businesses, investors, users, and ordinary people to exploit great opportunities. More celebrities, including musicians, sportspersons, movie stars, and others have turned their interests in this digital token to create their own NFT collections and sell them.

The NFT craze has remained as strong in 2022 as it was last year. Lots of big mainstream businesses are setting up NFT shops in hopes of discovering a new revenue model.

Everyone from GameStop, Visa, The NFL (National Football League), Softbank, Coinbase, Rackuten, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), Tech Mahindra, Spotify, Associated Press, USFL, Animoca Brands, and other have their own NFT marketplaces in some stage of planning, while some have launched recently.

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