The Complete Guide to NFT Liquidity Protocols (+ Top 10 Solutions)

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have transformed the digital asset landscape, offering a unique way to represent ownership of a diverse range of items, from digital art to virtual real estate. However, trading these unique tokens presents its own set of challenges, particularly in terms of liquidity. This is where NFT liquidity protocols come into play.

What is an NFT Liquidity Protocol?

NFT liquidity protocols are specialized blockchain-based mechanisms designed to facilitate NFT trading and improve market liquidity. They serve as the backbone of the NFT market, enabling users to access liquid funding sources and streamline the buying and selling of NFTs through stable markets and transparent pricing mechanisms.

Why NFT Liquidity Protocols Matter

NFT liquidity protocols play a crucial role in the NFT marketplace, addressing key challenges and enhancing the trading experience. Here’s why they are essential:

Improved Liquidity

NFT liquidity protocols transform unique, often illiquid NFTs into more liquid forms by allowing users to deposit them into liquidity pools or marketplaces. This facilitates easier trading and improves market efficiency.

Lower Transaction Costs

By automating the trading process and eliminating intermediaries, these protocols significantly reduce transaction costs, making trading more cost-effective.

Enhanced Security

Operating on smart contracts, NFT liquidity protocols ensure secure and immutable transactions, instilling trust in the ecosystem.

Market Democratization

These protocols, often free and open-source, democratize the NFT market, making it accessible to anyone with an internet connection, regardless of their geographical location or financial status.

Automated Processes

NFT liquidity protocols automate various processes such as portfolio optimization, rebalancing, and market making, allowing users to maximize profits without manual intervention.

In essence, NFT liquidity protocols are indispensable for the growth and maturation of the NFT market, enhancing the trading experience and market accessibility.

Top 10 NFT Liquidity Protocols and Solutions to NFT Liquidity

nftperp

nftperp is a decentralized exchange for NFT perpetual futures on Arbitrum, allowing users to speculate on the floor price movements of various popular NFT collections like BAYC, CryptoPunks, and Milady with up to 5x leverage. As these are perpetual contracts, there’s no expiry, and traders are not buying or selling the underlying asset but trading the price action. These contracts don’t require real NFTs as collateral, enabling traders to enter and exit the exchange using ETH without providing NFT collateral.

Our v1 beta is currently closed but you can still try our platform through paper trading.

Zora

Zora is a protocol that allows artists and developers to create their own NFT marketplaces and collections. It has its own primary marketplace where users can list NFTs, but most of the NFTs sold on its protocol take place on third-party sites. Crypto organizations like publishing startup Mirror and collective FWB have leveraged Zora’s protocol to sell NFTs to community members.

All-Art

All-Art is an innovative online platform and an architect of the metaverse that is giving power to creators and opening doors for collectors to enter the metaverses. It has introduced features like Gold Listings status, which can be earned by staking $AART tokens when listing an NFT on the platform. The platform also supports the minting of 3D NFTs and has collaborated with international NFT & metaverse collective SNGLR.NFT to showcase their art collection.

Deri Protocol

Deri Protocol is a decentralized derivative protocol that allows users to hedge, speculate, and arbitrage on-chain. Trades are executed under the Automated Market Maker (AMM) paradigm, and positions are tokenized as NFTs, making them highly composable with other DeFi projects. The protocol supports three major derivative types: Perpetual futures, Everlasting Options, and Power Perpetuals, and has processed a total trading volume of over 20 billion USD.

NFTX

NFTX is a platform designed to establish liquid markets for otherwise illiquid Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Users can deposit their NFTs into a designated NFTX vault, which in turn generates a fungible ERC20 token, known as a vToken. This vToken signifies a claim on a random asset within the vault and can also be utilized to reclaim a specific NFT from the vault. Vaults, which can be established by any user for any NFT asset on the Ethereum network, are the core of this process. Once a vault is set up, any user can deposit eligible NFTs into it, minting a fungible token backed by the NFT, also known as a “vToken”. These vTokens represent a 1:1 claim on a random NFT within the vault.

Origin Protocol

Origin Protocol is democratizing access to NFTs and DeFi, making them accessible to a wider audience. It introduces the first-ever stablecoin that accrues yield even while it’s in your wallet. Origin is a fully decentralized team, backed by over 800 investors worldwide, including leading venture capitalists and cryptocurrency funds. The Origin Tokens (OGN) are owned by more than 37,000 token holders. Traditional centralized platforms for music and art often impose exorbitant fees, leaving creators with only a small portion of the value they create and causing consumers to pay more for goods.

Unicly

Unicly is a community-driven, permissionless protocol designed for the amalgamation, fractionalization, and trading of NFTs. Developed by NFT collectors and DeFi enthusiasts, Unicly encourages NFT liquidity and offers a smooth trading experience for NFT assets by integrating Automated Market Makers (AMMs) and yield farming into the NFT sphere. As a creation of NFT collectors, Unicly introduces an innovative approach to consolidate your NFT collection, tokenize it, and make it tradable. This allows users to acquire stakes in multiple NFTs simultaneously.

Boson Protocol

Boson Protocol leverages NFTs and game theory to automate the redemption process from digital to physical, with minimal arbitration. It invites users to join a decentralized commerce ecosystem that is resistant to capture. Boson Protocol serves as a fundamental Web3 primitive, unlocking two global value pools: a public infrastructure for managing commerce transactions and a Web3 Commerce Data Marketplace. It empowers smart contracts to facilitate the exchange of digital value for physical goods and services, reducing arbitration and costs.

Charged Particles

Charged Particles is an innovative protocol that allows you to embed digital assets within your NFTs. This means that standard NFTs, akin to neutral molecules, can now carry a digital “charge” inside — be it ERC20, ERC721, or ERC1155 — offering the unparalleled capability to create nested NFTs. If it can be digitized, it can be deposited into your NFTs. The protocol supports deposit tokens from Aave, which are then converted into aTokens within an NFT, thereby creating assets that generate yield.

NiftyPays

NiftyPays is a groundbreaking concept, meticulously designed to cater to the rapidly growing community of NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) holders. It aims to boost the trend of purchasing and holding NFTs, making them appealing to investors seeking short-term profits in addition to the long-term appreciation of NFTs and the prestige of ownership. NiftyPays is a staking ecosystem that enables NFT holders to use their NFTs as collateral or stake their idle NFTs for a specified amount.

Different Types of Liquidity Protocols

In the dynamic world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), various NFT liquidity protocols have emerged, each offering unique features to enhance trading efficiency and market accessibility. Here’s an overview of some key types:

Automated Market Maker (AMM)

An AMM is a type of decentralized NFT liquidity protocol that uses an algorithm to facilitate trading between buyers and sellers, eliminating the need for a third-party intermediary.

Balancer Protocol

The Balancer Protocol is an innovative NFT liquidity protocol that allows users to create their own liquidity pools and mint NFTs with automated price formulas.

Uniswap Protocol

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the Uniswap Protocol supports the trading of both ERC-20 tokens and NFTs.

Bancor Network

The Bancor Network is an NFT liquidity protocol designed to facilitate exchanges between NFTs while also serving as a medium of exchange.

Kyber’s Reserve Network

Kyber’s Reserve Network is an NFT liquidity protocol that uses an algorithm called the automaton stabilizer to mitigate slippage caused by high market volatility during periods of high demand or low liquidity.

Who Can Benefit From NFT Liquidity Protocols?

NFT liquidity protocols are not exclusive to tech enthusiasts or blockchain experts. They offer a plethora of benefits that can be utilized by various users within the digital asset ecosystem. Let’s explore who can benefit from these protocols:

Investors

Investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with digital assets can significantly benefit from NFT liquidity protocols. These protocols offer a streamlined process for purchasing, trading, and liquidating digital assets efficiently. They also provide automated portfolio optimization and rebalancing services, allowing investors to maximize their investment returns.

Collectors

For collectors, NFT liquidity protocols provide an accessible and efficient platform for trading unique digital assets. Whether it’s digital art, virtual real estate, or collectible items, these protocols simplify the process of buying and selling NFTs, thereby enhancing the collecting experience.

Artists and Creators

Artists and creators can use NFT liquidity protocols to monetize their work. By transforming their creations into NFTs and listing them on liquidity pools or marketplaces, artists can reach a global audience and earn revenue directly from their work.

Traders

Traders can leverage the automated market-making and price discovery mechanisms offered by NFT liquidity protocols. These features enable traders to identify profitable trading opportunities and execute trades efficiently, thereby maximizing their returns.

Blockchain Projects

Blockchain projects that issue their own tokens can utilize NFT liquidity protocols to provide liquidity for their tokens. This can increase the token’s market visibility, stability, and overall value.

In conclusion, NFT liquidity protocols cater to a wide range of users within the digital asset ecosystem. Whether you’re an investor, a collector, an artist, a trader, or a blockchain project, these protocols offer robust solutions to meet your unique needs in the NFT market.