Invisible Infrastructure 07 | Dialogue with OKX Web3: Demand, Trends, and Technology, Creating OKX Marketplace

The NFT market is not as hot as it was in 2021, but it is not accurate to say that NFTs have "cooled down." Since the concept of NFTs was popularized by CryptoKitties in 2017, NFTs have gradually expanded from the art sector to sports, music, virtual real estate, and more, with increasingly widespread market applications. In 2021, Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" sold for $69 million, marking the peak moment for NFTs.

Today, as the market becomes more rational and innovative, investors and developers remain confident in the technological potential and commercial prospects of NFTs. For example, the emergence of inscriptions and runes in the Bitcoin ecosystem represents a new evolution of NFTs. Meanwhile, competition among major platforms such as OKX, SuperRare, and OpenSea is becoming increasingly fierce, and the future application scenarios for NFTs remain vast. Among them, the OKX Marketplace has quickly become one of the important platforms in the NFT field since its launch, thanks to its strong multi-chain support, flexible user experience, and innovative trading models.

Compared to other NFT markets, OKX Marketplace offers a more convenient user interface, diverse asset support, and strong liquidity, attracting a large number of artists, collectors, and users. The Invisible Infrastructure 07 will focus on the underlying design of the OKX NFT market, delving into the construction and understanding of the OKX Web3 NFT team in product aspects through dialogue, 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 NFTs can be traced back to 2014 when the "Colored Coins" project first demonstrated the possibility of using blockchain technology to represent digital assets. However, it was the 2017 release of CryptoKitties, a collectible game based on Ethereum that allowed users to buy, sell, and breed crypto cats, that truly sparked widespread attention. This game showed that blockchain technology could not only handle transactions but also manage unique digital assets, thus laying the groundwork for the NFT market.

2. Development and Boom (2020-2021)

The year 2020 was a year of rapid expansion for the NFT market, primarily due to the rise of DeFi and public chain ecosystems. NFTs were no longer limited to artworks but began to be applied in music, virtual real estate, and gaming. Platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRare began to gain widespread usage. Among them, OKX Marketplace emerged rapidly during this wave, solidifying its market position by supporting a multi-chain trading environment and showcasing unique advantages in building a leading Bitcoin NFT ecosystem.

In 2021, the NFT market experienced explosive growth, highlighted by Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" selling for $69 million, marking a high point for the NFT market. The trading volume of NFTs reached $2.5 billion in 2021, covering various fields such as art, sports collectibles, and gaming assets. That year, NFTs gradually became part of mainstream culture, with numerous brands and celebrities joining in the creation and sale of NFTs.

3. Market Adjustment and Cooling Period (2022)

In 2022, with the overall volatility of the cryptocurrency market, the NFT market also underwent an adjustment, with a decline in trading volume and a more rational pricing trend. This period is seen as a "cooling period" for the market, where speculative funds decreased, but long-term holders and genuinely interested investors continued to pay attention to NFTs. During this stage, the application scenarios for NFTs became more diversified, extending beyond artworks to include virtual real estate, music copyrights, social tokens, and more. Major platforms also introduced more technical optimizations, such as reducing transaction fees and enhancing user experience.

4. Continuous Innovation and Maturity Phase (2023-Present)

Currently, the NFT market is gradually transitioning from a frenzy phase to a maturity phase. Platforms like OKX Marketplace and Magic Eden, among others, are promoting the diversified development of the NFT market through multi-chain support, smart contract innovations, and extensive applications in the metaverse. On the technical side, emerging Layer 2 solutions like Polygon and Immutable X further reduce transaction costs and improve user experience. NFTs are no longer merely speculative tools; more brands and enterprises are exploring their applications in the metaverse, gaming, identity verification, and other fields. With technological innovation, NFTs are bringing more practical application value to digital ownership and asset management.

Core Functions Provided by OKX Marketplace for Users

OKX Web3: Here we briefly list the core functions of OKX Marketplace.

1. Deep Support for the Bitcoin Ecosystem

OKX Marketplace demonstrates strong innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Although Bitcoin was not originally designed to support smart contracts or NFTs, with the development of new technologies like Ordinals and Bitcoin inscriptions, the Bitcoin ecosystem is rapidly integrating into the NFT market, promoting its prosperity. We were among the first to support protocols and asset trading related to Bitcoin NFTs, such as the Ordinals inscriptions and Runes protocols, becoming one of the first markets globally to support Bitcoin NFT trading, particularly in terms of innovative tools within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

2. Multi-Chain Support, Connecting Mainstream and Emerging Chain Ecosystems

In addition to Bitcoin, OKX Marketplace supports nearly 40 mainstream blockchains, including Ethereum, Ton, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Scroll. Through extensive multi-chain support, we provide users with a one-stop service, making it convenient for them to manage and trade NFT assets across different blockchain networks, enhancing the platform's compatibility and practicality.

3. Aggregating Multi-Market Transactions for One-Stop Service
OKX Marketplace aggregates orders from multiple mainstream NFT markets, including OpenSea, Blur, Magic Eden, and Tensor, providing a cross-platform trading experience. Users can directly trade the best orders for NFTs from different markets on our platform without switching between different applications. This model not only enhances the user experience but also makes OKX Marketplace the first choice for NFT traders and collectors.

4. Zero Transaction Fees, Benefiting More Users
OKX Marketplace significantly reduces user trading costs through a zero-fee strategy. This innovation not only enhances the platform's market competitiveness but also attracts and benefits a large number of users and creators who choose to trade on OKX Marketplace. Especially for users active in the Bitcoin ecosystem, zero fees further lower the entry barrier for NFT participation, promoting the circulation and popularity of ecosystems like Bitcoin.

5. Powerful Data Analysis Tools Empowering User Decisions
OKX Marketplace provides users with comprehensive data analysis tools to help them gain insights into market trends and asset performance. These tools can help users track the performance of emerging assets like Bitcoin inscriptions and Runes in real-time, as well as provide collectors with detailed market analyses, such as candlestick charts and historical trading data, including real-time leaderboards, to help them make informed decisions.

OKX Marketplace and the Bitcoin Ecosystem

OKX Web3: The innovative development of the Bitcoin ecosystem injects new vitality into the NFT market, and OKX Marketplace is one of the main drivers of this process. Bitcoin inscriptions were initially 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 enhances the usability of the Bitcoin network but also opens up new asset categories.

Additionally, OKX was among the first in the industry to support Runes and the Fractal Bitcoin protocol, further promoting the expansion of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Especially with Fractal Bitcoin, which optimizes the storage and processing efficiency of Bitcoin NFTs using sharding technology, we have become a leader in this field with our advanced technology and innovative mindset. OKX Marketplace provides powerful tools for the Bitcoin ecosystem:

1. Deep Integration of Bitcoin NFT Tools
OKX Marketplace offers a complete suite of tool support for Bitcoin NFT users, including Bitcoin inscription minting, Rune management, and Fractal Bitcoin inscription trading tools. Users can participate in various NFT operations within the Bitcoin ecosystem directly through the OKX Web3 wallet, making the process simple and providing comprehensive developer documentation, greatly enhancing the trading experience for Bitcoin NFTs.

2. NFT Minting and Issuance, Supporting 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 exclusive royalty mechanisms to provide them with a stable source of income. This feature significantly lowers the barriers to NFT creation and issuance, attracting more artists and developers to participate in the ecosystem.

3. Real-Time Data and Leaderboards
We also provide rich market data tools to help users track market dynamics and NFT performance in real-time, especially in the inscription market, where users can view rankings, trading volumes, market prices, and candlestick data for related assets, providing accurate market information support.

4. OKX Drops and Exclusive NFT Releases
OKX Marketplace regularly launches exclusive NFT projects, providing users with opportunities to purchase rare NFTs through events like "OKX Drops." These limited releases not only increase the platform's appeal but also offer users a unique collecting experience.

How to Think About the Combination of User Needs, Market Trends, and Products

OKX Web3: Throughout the development process, OKX Marketplace has always focused on insights into user needs and is guided by market trends. First, we identify user pain points and needs in NFT trading and collecting through data analysis and user feedback, such as the complexity of cross-chain asset management, high transaction fees, and low market data transparency. Based on this user feedback, we introduced features like multi-chain support, zero transaction fees, and real-time data analysis, aiming to simplify the user experience and lower the entry barriers to the NFT market.

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

1. Urgency of User Needs: We prioritize addressing widely existing user pain points in the market and quickly adjust products through continuous user surveys and feedback mechanisms.

2. Changes in Market Trends: The development of the NFT market is extremely rapid, so during product iterations, we closely monitor market dynamics, such as support for emerging blockchain protocols like Bitcoin inscription assets.

3. Feasibility and Innovation of Technology: OKX Marketplace combines the latest trends in blockchain technology, such as Bitcoin inscriptions, Runes, and Fractal Bitcoin, 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 experience.

Although the NFT market has experienced rapid growth followed by a cooling period in recent years, it still faces challenges such as high volatility, high technical barriers, and insufficient user education. Particularly in the Bitcoin NFT field, while new assets and protocols are emerging, the market's maturity still requires time to solidify. OKX Marketplace actively addresses these challenges by continuously innovating technology and closely aligning with user needs and market trends, providing users with cutting-edge features and seamless trading experiences.

Innovative Directions and Future Challenges

OKX Web3: We have witnessed the NFT market's cycle from initial concept validation to explosive growth, followed by market adjustments and technological innovations. In the long term, we maintain an optimistic outlook for this field. With continuous technological innovation in the industry, the NFT market will welcome larger-scale applications and innovations, especially driven by the Bitcoin ecosystem, where NFTs will not only occupy an important position in digital art but also demonstrate unique value in finance, gaming, ticketing, and virtual reality.

While OKX Marketplace continues to expand its support for the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem, it is also actively exploring innovations in more features. On one hand, we plan to further optimize the user experience, integrate more networks, and provide comprehensive services to users and project parties in terms of user experience, primary and secondary market support, and developer documentation.

On the other hand, we are also exploring more GameFi features, expanding the application scenarios of NFTs through the combination of NFTs and gaming, and promoting innovations in areas such as RWA (Real World Asset) in-game asset trading and virtual real estate. This will provide users with richer usage scenarios and further promote the popularity and application of the NFT market. In the future, we will continue to drive the development of the NFT industry through technological innovation and product optimization, especially in the Bitcoin ecosystem and GameFi field, striving to offer users more diversified choices and experiences.

Disclaimer

This content is for reference only and does not constitute or should not be viewed as (i) investment advice or recommendations, (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 volatility, involve high risks, and may depreciate 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. For your specific circumstances, please consult your legal/tax/investment professionals. Not all products are available in all regions. For more details, please refer to OKX's Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure & Disclaimer. The OKX Web3 mobile wallet and its derivative services are governed by separate terms of service. You are responsible for understanding and complying with applicable local laws and regulations.