Coinbase Sees Slow Uptake for NFT Marketplace Test

Coinbase rolled out a beta for its NFT marketplace last week, Coindesk reported Thursday (April 28), and there has been some activity data released.

The data, from crypto analytics firm Dune, showed Coinbase’s market with less than 900 total transactions since opening April 20. According to the stats, the total trade volume has been 73 ETH, or $217,000, and there were around 650 users transacting.

The data is routed through Ox Project, the report said, which Coinbase selected for the marketplace’s back end.

The lower usage rates are possibly because of Coinbase only granting a small amount of its 3 million-person wait list to actually access the platform.

Coinbase said, in an emailed statement, that it wasn’t confirming any user data on the NFT market due to the fact that it was in beta.

See also: Wall Street Embraces Crypto, but Will It Be Playing Catchup?

PYMNTS wrote that after years of firm opposition, several Wall Street players have begun to get more into the sector.

The report notes that Jefferies Financial Group has expanded its banking services for crypto clients, with Goldman Sachs and BlackRock getting more into them. BlackRock, in addition to a $400 million investment in Circle, has also formed a partnership with the company to look into the capital markets of USD Coin.

Blackrock already does manage some of the $50.3 billion in cash and treasuries backing Circle, and Larry Fisk, its CEO, said recently he expects the company will be the primary manager of those reserves.

In the past week, several stories centered around the head of Goldman Sachs meeting with FTX discussing a potential collaboration, and Morgan Stanley wrote about crypto becoming mainstream. According to Michael Moro, CEO of digital currency prime brokerage Genesis, this is typical among banks.

“Banks are forever going to be trying to play catchup,” he said in the report. “Crypto is going to move way faster than banks can. We have every bank in the world pretty much having some sort of crypto, blockchain working group.”