Zora Ecosystem: NFT platform backed by Coinbase

Raising capital of 60 million USD, from an NFT Marketplace to a separate Layer 2 for NFTs on OP Stack Superchain. What does the Zora ecosystem currently have?

Highlights of Zora

Layer 2 is dedicated to NFTs

Starting out as an NFT Marketplace focused on creators on Ethereum, Zora has provided a toolkit for anyone wanting to create NFTs on the platform. With the aim of promoting the development of NFTs, Zora has upgraded from a simple exchange to a specialized Layer 2 for NFTs.

Zora Network is a Layer 2 network built on the latest Bedrock version of the OP Stack toolkit, which also means Zora is part of the Optimism Superchain ecosystem, sharing revenue and governance rights with the Optimism Council (Collective). ).

Notably, Zora Network is the only blockchain in this ecosystem that focuses primarily on NFTs. Currently, Zora is operating as a social network that connects creators, helping them share finished products and trade NFTs.

Calling capital of 60 million USD

Zora Labs, the company behind the Zora Network project, previously successfully raised capital of 60 million USD at a valuation of 600 million USD. The capital call round had the participation of many big names, notably Coinbase Ventures.

Notably, the project mentioned that it will reward users who use Zora's services. With the expansion into a Layer 2, token issuance with Zora is completely possible.

Combined with large projects

Zora recently showed its influence when making announcements combining or integrating with products from major projects:

Zora acquires Mint Fun - a platform that supports collectors in collecting, mint NFTs on EVM chains on a daily basis. This project has a direction quite similar to the current Zora and could become a competitor of Zora.

Coinbase is one of the partners who is active in cooperating with Zora. Most recently, Zora became a directly supported blockchain in the Web3 Coinbase Wallet.

Swap and bridge fees on Zora via the Decent dApp on Coinbase Wallet are also free at 0%. NFT collections on Base are also regularly released and profits shared with Zora.

Collection combined with Base - Base Zorb combined with ERC-20 feature (allowing creators to choose desired payment token) created a craze on Zora. For the first time, this network achieved the milestone of more than 1 million transactions/day.

In addition to the above names, a number of projects have combined to create NFTs via the Zora platform or integrated this project's tools including Lens Protocol, Uniswap, Berachain, Base, Puffer Finance, Zerion...

Network metrics

Zora Network has only been in operation since June 2023. Zora Network, after nearly a year of operation, has achieved notable NFT metrics:

·      More than 4 million NFTs minted

·      More than 2.3 million wallet addresses, of which 954k wallets performed at least 1 transaction

·      Over 300 million USD in secondary trading volume

·      The highest NFT sold was priced at $7.5 million

·      More than 46 million transactions performed

In April, the launch of Zorb group NFTs on Zora caused the project to grow quite strongly in terms of transaction volume and number of active wallets per day.

Zora ecosystem

NFT implementation projects

The feature that allows commemorating an event with an NFT has attracted many different projects and attracted attention for Zora. Some prominent NFT projects promoted by the Zora project itself and a few partner projects:

·      Zorbs: Spherical NFT project combined with many large projects such as Base, Arbitrum, Uniswap, Lens Protocol, LayerZero, Gitcoin...

·      11:11: Collection developed by Zora

·      5OCKS: Uniswap NFT Collection on Zora

Along with many other small creators on Zora, notables include: yoginth, imagination studio, fastintop.eth, uniswapintern.eth…

Projects on Zora

Zora has now become a base platform for projects, the main projects being built on this platform include:

·      Party Bid: Social media application that connects groups of users to discuss, invest, mint NFT...

·      Mirror: Unique publishing tool that leverages blockchain technology, NFTs, and crypto assets.

·      Catalog Works: Platform for releasing music recordings as NFTs.

·      Blit House: Community that develops NFTs in a sci-fi fantasy universe and art direction.

·      Punk House: Platform that supports the trading of CryptoPunks collections.

·      Glass xyz: Platform for publishing and collecting videos as NFTs.

·      The Well: A community of people of color creating art in the form of NFTs.

Other

In addition to NFT projects, Zora also has other infrastructure projects such as:

·      Bridge: Decent, Orbiter, Relay Link, Bungee Exchange

·      Wallet: Coinbase Wallet, Coin98 Super App, Zerion

·      DEX: Uniswap V2, FeeFree, Archly V2

·      Launchpad: Mint Fun, Mint Club V2

·      TVL a few DeFi projects on Zora.

Due to the ecosystem's focus on NFTs, DEX projects in the Zora ecosystem do not play a significant role. The TVL level of these projects is below 2 million USD, the TVL on the ecosystem is mainly ETH used to mint and collect NFTs.

summary

Zora evolved into a Layer 2 focused entirely on NFTs, art creators on the platform are operating as a social network for NFT sharing. The project creates attraction from raising capital of 60 million USD, combined with many large projects and notably the support of Coinbase.