Quite often you’ll order something from eBay at a hefty price, only to discover that you were sent a valueless box of crap. It kinda makes sense that the online auction house is pivoting to NFTs, then.
And that’s official. eBay has bought established NFT marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed sum. The point is to fold it into its existing business model. To “…remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles,” according to eBay CEO Jamie Iannone.
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KnownOrigin has been around since 2018. In that time, it has done around R125 million($7.8 million) in sales. Those are relatively small numbers, as NFT sales go. But with an average NFT price of R5,700, that’s perhaps to be expected.
eBay has allowed the sale of NFTs on its platform for more than a year. This deal will give the marketplace a more official avenue for sales of tokens of the non-fungible kind. KnownOrigin co-founder David Moore believes that the deal will see his platform attract more users. With eBay’s reach, he’s probably not wrong.
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“With more than twenty-five years building similar communities of passionate individuals, we are excited by the opportunity to bring a whole new audience on this journey. This is the start of a new chapter in the KnownOrigin story and we couldn’t choose a better time to focus on building and innovating with the team at eBay,” said Moore.
eBay’s first official NFT drop took place last month. That response must have been adequate, given this further deepening of its relationship with the intangible assets. The company’s future plans for KnownOrigin, ironically, aren’t known. The platform could continue as an independent entity, or eBay might fold its technology into its main sales platform. We’ll likely find out more as matters move forward.