Mercari NFT Marketplace: Japan Users Can Now Buy & Sell Crypto Art On OpenSea
Mercari Japan announces launch of a new NFT marketplace, allowing users to buy and sell crypto art seamlessly through OpenSea with future plans to issue and sell NFTs in partnership with businesses and IP holders in Japan and around the world.
According to a company press release:
The new service allows users to use Mercari to buy and sell popular NFTs available on OpenSea, a major NFT marketplace based in the US. This change kicks off the expansion of Mercari’s business from a marketplace for buying and selling physical items into a digital marketplace for buying and selling NFTs...
...Users will now be able to seamlessly purchase NFTs using their Mercari sales balance without having to apply to create a cryptoasset wallet or open a new account. In addition, users will also be able to easily list the NFTs they purchase on Mercari NFT.
From day one of the service launch, Mercari users will be able to buy and sell NFTs from popular projects on OpenSea, a major NFT marketplace. Going forward, Mercari plans to issue and sell NFT contents together with businesses and IP holders in Japan and overseas in a variety of categories including art, trading cards, and entertainment to further expand Mercari NFT as a digital marketplace.
Available payment methods include Merpay balance, Merpay Smart Pay, and Mercard, while Bitcoin processed by the subsidiary Mercoin is not supported as a payment method.
There is no fee for purchasing or listing NFTs but the seller will pay a 10% fee upon sale. More details can be found on Mercari Japan's help page for Mercari NFT.
The move comes at a time when global interest in crypto art has cooled significantly from 2020-2022 highs - notably rival eBay has recently wound down their KnownOrigin NFT marketplace, a 2022 acquisition which did not pan out well for the company.
Liz Morton
NFT growth in Japan has continued largely due to the country's strong entertainment and gaming sectors, but adoption has still been slower than many predicted just a few years ago with recent research from Statista showing 17% of Japanese respondents interested in financial products were familiar with NFTs, marking a decrease from previous years.
According to a survey conducted in September 2024, around 17 percent of respondents in Japan who had interest in financial products were to some extent interested in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Close to 24 percent did not know NFTs or had never heard of the term.
What do you think of Mercari's foray into non-fungible tokens? Let us know in the comments below!
