eBay partners with Tezos-powered OneOf to launch the first NFT collection

• The popular online marketplace has previously delved into NFTs, but this is the first instance of itself launching NFTs
• The digital collectibles will be centred around sports personalities

E-commerce giant eBay announced on Monday it is unveiling an NFT collection ‘Genesis’ of non-fungible tokens, featuring animations of popular athletes, including ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

The NFT collection features thirteen digital collectibles available at different tiers. The launch is a joint venture with the NFT platform OneOf built on Tezos and Polygon. The companies confirmed that they would continue with the NFT drops beyond the ‘limited-edition’ digital collectibles. The NFTs will, however, focus on athletes featured on Sports Illustrated covers.

There are four tiers – green, gold, platinum, and diamond —the former being the most affordable and the latter costing as high as $1,500. eBay’s VP of Collectibles, Electronics and Home Dawn Block, said that the launch is a sign of the marketplace’s continued commitment to providing users with new products.

“Through our partnership with OneOf, eBay is now making coveted NFTs more accessible to a new generation of collectors everywhere. This builds upon our commitment to deliver high passion, high value items to the eBay community of buyers and sellers,” Block said.

First direct involvement

This is not exactly eBay’s first rodeo into non-fungible tokens. The marketplace introduced NFT trading on its platform last year and has been reported to be exploring further NFT integration. However, it is the first time eBay has had direct involvement in the launch and sale of NFTs.

eBay’s NFT collection launch comes when the NFT space is seeing reduced interest and slumping prices. In its Q1 2022 NFT report, analytics platform NonFungible observed that sales (as well as exchange) volume and the count of active addresses with digital collectibles have been decreasing since setting new heights at the start of the year.

Also notably, the announcement arrives a month after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed that the e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming firm could consider selling NFTs. Though it has spread its wings to other niches, Amazon is one of eBay’s biggest competitors. It is, in fact, the only e-commerce platform that eBay trails in terms of active users.

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