Popular e-commerce company eBay has joined the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) train as the online retailer now supports non-fungible token (NFT) auctions on its platform.

In a blog post, eBay said that it had updated its company policy to include the sale of digital collectibles like trading cards, images, or video clips on its platform.

The online retailer said it would update its policies and tools on digital collectibles in the future. But pending the updates, trusted sellers who meet certain requirements will be allowed to list their NFTs on the platform.

However, the company said that it would add new capabilities that bring blockchain-driven collectibles to future NFT updates.

eBay has prior experience verifying physical collectibles and items for buyers. It plans to continue this model using the power of the blockchain.

eBay added that it was also working on programs, policies, and tools to let its customers buy and sell NFTs across a broad range of categories.

With this move, eBay becomes the first e-commerce company to tap into the NFT frenzy. The company is also mulling the idea of accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment in the future.

NFTs are digital assets with unique properties that cannot be interchanged with another. They are one-of-a-kind assets in digital form that can be bought or sold like any other physical asset.

With NFTs, these digital assets are tokenized to create a digital certificate of ownership. This ownership is what's bought and sold. The details and records of the owner of the NFTs are stored on a public ledger, also known as the blockchain.

Popular NFT forms include gamified collectibles, pure collectibles, sports-based imagery and collectibles, and art-based collectibles. The uniqueness and price depend on rarity and special features.

Thousands of projects featuring NFTs have exploded in the crypto space over the last few months, from the piece of digital artwork by Beeple that went for $69 million to the numerous sports collectibles sold by NBA Topshot, a platform that's in partnership with the NBA.

Numerous NFT marketplaces continue to spring up as the NFT craze waggles on. The popular names include Top Shot, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, and OpenSea. Having an online retailer like eBay, with a major presence in online shopping, making an entrance would extend the NFT craze to millions of active buyers on the platform. Popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance is also making inroads into the NFT market. The bitcoin exchange plans to debut its NFT platform by June 2021.

243 +