eBay acquires leading NFT marketplace, KnownOrigin

My guess is that this is less about KnownOrigin itself and more about bringing in an influx of innovative employees who otherwise would not choose to be employed by eBay. In one fell swoop, they're saying to the market "hey, we're still relevant" while also bringing in the people who might be able to actually make them relevant.

But it's a lot like greenwashing — cosmetic "innovation" won't make them innovative. It would take a lot.

I'm sure eBay paid a hefty sum but I wouldn't read into this too much. It says more about the experimental/desperate state of eBay right now than it says about the promise of NFTs. eBay seems to be throwing a bunch of darts at the market right now and hoping some of them hit the target.

Hope they didn't pay much for it. I'm confident this will be a big waste of time and money for eBay. Probably a good time to buy the company for cheap, considering NFTs have fallen so much. Digital collectibles might someday be a big thing but there are so many examples of them losing 90%+ of their value.

Where are all the other NFT uses cases? We've heard about them being a game changer but there I haven't seen anything meaningful done with them.

I guess it makes sense from a business perspective but as Channing mentioned, it could just be an attempt to see what sticks.

Makes all the sense in the world to me that eBay is now offering NFTs a home! Do ya’ll remember when beanie babies and eBay were lovers?? That’s the only place you could get the special “rare” ones... I remember my sister begging my parents to stay up bidding. And yet, it’s a rare (odd? lol) person who still prizes beanie babies today.

The thing is, ebay doesn’t make things relevant or meaningful. It takes things that were relevant and meaningful (at least to some people) and gives them a home. That’s what it feels like is happening here. NFTs are collectibles. Ebay is a home for collectibles.

Shopify also announced an NFT feature today. Is this about big corps jumping on the NFT bandwagon just because another corp also jumped in?

I'm actually excited to see where this goes. I'm surprised to see such a large and relevant marketplace back NFTs this boldly, this soon.

Wow - this seems like a pretty big step in the pro-NFT direction. Although I was leaning towards Bill Gates' point of view (https://www.indiehackers.com/post/bill-gates-says-nfts-are-100-percent-based-on-greater-fool-theory-7137009e4b), this acquisition gives NFTs a much more credible infrastructure.