“Coinbase NFTs Will Adopt Tezos Blockchain” Says Balthazar Game Strategist

NFT gaming platform Balthazar believes the new Coinbase NFT platform will use the Tezos blockchain.

The rise and rise of the NFT gaming space needs no introduction. Terms like play-to-earn and non-fungible token were barely on the radar a year ago. Come the start of 2022, and they’re integral to a phenomenon talked about from water coolers to dining room tables all across the world.

It should come as no surprise then that the biggest players in the cryptocurrency world want to dip their fingers into the pie.

Any day now – perhaps by the time you read this post – Coinbase will be releasing a new NFT marketplace platform. Coinbase can be routinely found in the top three crypto exchanges when you’re looking at market rankings.

So, the fact that a player this big is launching an NFT marketplace is huge news for the play-to-earn gaming space. Even if it initially looks like it will be more focused on art, music and NFTs of that ilk.

“We’re making NFTs more accessible by building user-friendly interfaces that put the complexity behind the scenes,” said Sanchan Saxena, VP of Product, Ecosystems in its October 2021  annoucement. “We’re adding social features that open new avenues for conversation and discovery. And we’re going to grow the creator community exponentially, a win for artists and for fans.”

Starting with Ethereum, ending on Tezos

As part of the announcement, the Coinbase NFT marketplace was revealed to be housed on the Ethereum blockchain. “The initial launch will support Ethereum based ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards,” Saxena said at first. But what’s interesting is what followed next. “…With multi-chain support planned soon after. We’ll provide the best user experience, but we’ll never lock creators in.”

So, what other blockchains will the Coinbase NFT marketplace use?

As part of a recent research paper, Balthazar game strategist Sigurd Thomassen, made a case for Tezos being the future blockchain of choice for Coinbase.

Thomassen provided data to show that the adoption of Tezos has increased dramatically over the last 12-months. And not only have contract calls increased but so has social volume. Tezos is now the fifth-most talked about blockchain in the socialverse (at the time of writing), on the heels of PancakeSwap, Shiba Inu and Ethereum.

Also key is a new hire at Coinbase in Tech Lead Andrew Choi. Thomassen, a follower of Choi’s insights into blockchain technology on Twitter, has witnessed Coinbase’s new lead man name-drop Tezos frequently. He’s a fan. As are other leading NFT marketplaces like Rarible, which allows for both Ethereum and Tezos blockchain NFTs.

“I think Coinbase, the biggest kahuna there is, will pick Tezos as its go-to chain, as technologically there are many reasons for it.” claims Thomassen. “The climate impact can’t be ignored as it uses two million-times less energy than Ethereum. It’s very adaptable. It is governed by the community with proposed changes voted on by a decentralised democratic process. So it’s continuously improving.”

As for when it might happen, Thomasson believes “it would be in Coinbase’s best interest to announce Tezos adoption with the surging NFT hype we see now. I think it will be within 6 months.

“When Coinbase adopts Tezos it will be a huge trigger for even more mainstream adoption on-chain.”

Play-to-Earn Shift

Ultimately, there’s reason to believe that while games are predominantly on Ethereum at the moment, Tezos is starting to nip at its heels. As a guild and NFT gaming platform closely following all developments in the play-to-earn space, the moves of Coinbase provide more evidence to Balthazar that we should pay greater attention to upcoming Tezos games.

And so should you.

Balthazar is hiring! Check out our careers page for job openings or get in touch if you want in.

About Balthazar:

Balthazar is a scholar-driven NFT (non-fungible token) gaming platform for the metaverse. It’s one of the first in Australia. Balthazar aims to be the largest Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAO) in the play-to-earn space. It’s a community-focused guild for gamers to access play-to-earn games with no upfront cost, supporting a fun and competitive team of players. It also offers a rent-to-earn feature where NFTs can be rented to Balthazar for the scholars to use in games. Balthazar supports the guild through social networks, educational resources, and training and development around game play and learning cryptocurrency investment.

Register Now!

Register for Token Sale

Balthazar is launching it’s token to the public very soon! Join our waitlist for exclusive benefits and instructions on how to participate!

Register Now!