So, you’re looking to dip your toes into the NFT art business? Well, there’s good news: Business is booming. As of about one week into the new year, NFT trading seems to be continuing its momentous growth. Some projections place the NFT art market to rival the conventional art market in total value by the end of 2022. To put that into perspective, Statista reported that global sales in conventional art were around $50 billion in 2020; a notable decline from the preceding 3 years and the lowest total sales since 2009. While a lot of this decline can certainly be blamed on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been an apparent global shift in consumer behavior.
While I think we can all admit to doing more and more online shopping lately, the researchers responsible for the Art Basel and Global Art Market report found that online sales of conventional art in 2020 doubled from the previous year, despite the drastic overall reduction in total market value. This market shift poises the entirely online NFT art market to soar in the coming years.
If you’re looking to get in on the action, there’s no shortage of NFTs to choose from. The already massive market continues to grow by the minute with new collections launching every day. Among the seemingly endless options of what and where to trade, a few platforms have come to dominate the space’s attention.

OpenSea
OpenSea is the global leader in NFT sales, boasting an impressive $14 billion in total trading in 2021 and around 1.8 million active users. The platform is based on the Ethereum blockchain, giving it an appearance of security and wide based support that is hard to ignore. Users can buy, trade, and even create their own NFTs.
While OpenSea trades all sorts of NFTs, it’s most well-known for the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The BAYC collection is consider by many to be the catalyst of the present NFT art market and is a certifiable behemoth in the space. While the entire collection contains 10,000 NFTs, individual pieces from the collection have listing prices ranging from $80,000 – several million.

Larva Labs
Larva Labs is another Ethereum based NFT trading platform. They’re best known for a viral NFT collection known as CryptoPunks. The collection was initially given away for free back in 2017, but the pieces have since gained tremendous value. While most of the owners of these coveted NFTs refuse to sell, one recently fetched nearly $12 million at Sotheby’s online auction.
If the ultra-rare CryptoPunks seem a but pricy for you, don’t let it deter you from checking Larva Labs out. The platform has much more to offer in the way of popular digital art projects including Autoglyphs, Meebits, and others.

Nifty Gateway
Nifty Gateway offers two distinct advantages to newer NFT traders over other trading platforms. While the use of cryptocurrency is still possible, it’s not necessary. Most platforms will only facilitate purchases in the cryptocurrency that their blockchain is based on. For potential buyers without much knowledge or interest in cryptocurrency, that may be a non-starter. Luckily, Nifty gateway allows for purchases to also be made in fiat currency like the U.S. dollar.
Additionally, most platforms give the buyer digital possession of an NFT once they’ve purchased it. The NFT would then be stored in the buyer’s personal crypto wallet. Due to either security concerns or a lack of desire to set up a crypto wallet, this might also deter some potential collectors. Nifty Gateway hosts and stores the NFT themselves, so you don’t have to worry about the security of your purchase.
Nifty Gateway is growing in popularity as a digital art curator and has hosted the sales of well-known artists in the space, including the increasingly popular artist Beeple. While the name may be unfamiliar to you, one of his digital pieces recently sold at a Christie’s auction for over $69 million.

While these 3 are, by no means, the only popular platforms, they’re certainly ones that have distinguished themselves during the recent saturation of the market. When deciding where you’d like to trade, remember to consider things like the fluctuating prices of the cryptocurrency you’ll be trading in, the artists available on the platform, and your personal purchasing and storage preferences.
One of the greatest things about digital art’s growing popularity is not only the diversity in available art, but also the freedom to choose how and where you’d like to buy, sell, and create.