Coinbase NFT Marketplace Halts Creator Drop to Focus on Other Features

Amid the backdrop of poor performance, the Coinbase NFT marketplace is halting creator Drops to allow its team to focus on other productive features.

Amid the rumors suggesting the shutdown of the NFT marketplace, the official Twitter handle of Coinbase NFT on Thursday, February 2^nd, stated that they were pausing the new collection drops, not the entire platform. The decision is meant to allow the team to focus on other features that would bring more utility for creators.

We recently shared that we are pausing creator Drops on the NFT marketplace to focus on other features and tools that creators have asked for.

To be clear: We are not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace.

— Coinbase NFT (@Coinbase_NFT) February 1, 2023

The tweet reads:

“We recently shared that we are pausing creator Drops on the NFT marketplace to focus on other features and tools that creators have asked for.

To be clear:  We are not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace.”

The announcement came after a creator, Jessica Yatrofsky, on Wednesday said that her next NFT collection would not land on Coinbase NFT as she had been privately informed that the marketplace was “shutting down as of February 2023.”

Re: Coinbase NFT, please share & retweet 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/PXQXR2x5S9

— Jessica Yatrofsky ✡️ (@jyatrofsky) February 1, 2023

Coinbase NFT quickly debunked the rumors, stating that they were “pausing Drops for now to focus on other areas within Coinbase NFT, but we’re not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace.”

The Poor Performance of Coinbase NFT

Since its debut in May 2022, this NFT marketplace by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has yet to record a noticeable performance. Even on its opening day, it was able to attract fewer than 150 users, transacting only around $75,000 worth of ETH.

The situation is not different even today. The team continued to release new features to attract new users, such as a bulk manage tool, rarity filters, and time-delayed listings. Data suggest their efforts have not been able to bring some pride.

According to data compiled by Dune Analytics, Coinbase NFT’s all-time trading volume is 4,195 Ether (ETH), or around $8 million. There are only 17,103 users on the platform, with total transactions of 51,757 to date.

It is strange why Coinbase NFT is unable to do creator drops and build new features simultaneously. It may be due to the staff shortage as it recently cut its workforce by 950 members.

The community trolled Coinbase NFT over the decision. A user wrote:

“You could have directly called the 4 users of the platform – I don’t think a tweet was necessary.”

However, the announcement hints at a temporary pause of new collection drops as the team wrote they are “excited to find more opportunities to work with creators in the future.”