eBay Acquires NFT Marketplace KnownOrigin for Undisclosed Amount

Leading global e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has acquired non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed amount. KnownOrigin was founded in 2018 and facilitated $7.8 million in volume since its launch.

According to a press release, the deal is an “important step in eBay’s tech-led reimagination, ushering in a new era of digital collecting to the world’s top destination for collectibles.” The NFT marketplace, as the release notes, allows artists and collectors to create, buy, and resell NFTs via blockchain-based transactions.

Jamie Iannone, eBay’s CEO, was quoted saying:

eBay is the first stop for people across the globe who are searching for that perfect, hard-to-find, or unique addition to their collection and, with this acquisition, we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles.

Iannone added that KnownOrign has “built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers.” eBay notably started letting users buy and sell NFTs on its platform back in May 2021.

The e-commerce giant released its debut collection of NFTs in partnership with Tezos- and Polygon-based NFT platform OneOf last month, while last year its CEO said that the American multinational company was considering accepting cryptocurrency payments on its platform.

The deal comes amid a cryptocurrency bear market that has seen leading cryptocurrencies lose well over half of their value. The market has now seen its total capitalization drop below the $1 trillion mark for the first time since early 2021.

As reported, the world’s largest bitcoin ($BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw outflows of over $500 million late last week, which could have triggered the flagship cryptocurrency’s crash to a low under the $18,000 mark.

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