On Wednesday, top crypto exchange, Coinbase, confirmed speculations that its NFT platform is now in beta mode. The platform’s beta launch comes six months after the popular exchange revealed that it had started the process of launching its own NFT platform.

However, the beta launch mode means that only selected Coinbase users will have access to this feature. The users selected were among the millions of users who have been on the exchange’s waitlist to trade NFTs through their NFT platform.

Highlights Of The Announcement

Part of the announcement by the exchange states that more members will be added based on their signup times. Coinbase also announced that its NFT platform currently supports Ethereum-minted NFTs, with plans to support NFTs minted from other blockchains in the short term. Ethereum remains the blockchain with the highest number of digital collectibles, which might explain why Coinbase is only supporting NFTs minted from there for now.

Coinbase further disclosed that any Ethereum-minted NFT could be searchable on its platform. One enticing feature about this launch is that Coinbase won’t charge any transaction fee for NFTs sold through its new platform, even though normal Ethereum gas fees will still apply.

However, one of the exchange’s top-level executives, Sanchan Saxena, revealed that Coinbase would charge transaction fees later, but the transaction amount will be highly minimal. Presently, the NFT platform supports self-custody wallets with WalletConnect protocol, such as Coinbase wallet and Metamask.

Thus, users are in full control of the assets in their wallets, and they can connect their wallets with other NFT platforms, exchanges, and dApps. In the near term, Coinbase will roll out NFT custodial services where users can purchase digital collectibles using their credit card or Coinbase account. Saxena claimed that the move is Coinbase’s way of ensuring that anyone can use their platform to trade NFTs.

Besides normal NFT transactions, the Coinbase NFT platform also serves as a social platform for NFT creators. Creators can search for various NFT collections or comment on the profile pages of their fellow creators. It is similar to having an Instagram feed with creators having separate profile pages linked with their wallets but can socialize with other creators.

Features That Coinbase Wants To Add Soon

These social features will be hosted on Coinbase’s central servers during this launch period. But these features will eventually be hosted in a decentralized manner in the long term. Coinbase intends to make two more features available soon. One such feature is the minting of NFTs on its platform.

The second is for the platform to host NFT project drops, whether from launch partners or other users. Popular actors and personal and media brands are among those whose projects will feature on Coinbase’s NFT marketplace during the launch.

One notable absentee on this roll call is yuga labs (owners of top NFT project, cryptopunks). However, Coinbase recently partnered with yuga labs for the latter to create a 3-part film on some of its best-selling NFT collections.