While the Ethereum blockchain is by far the most popular option for NFTs, it’s by no means your only option. Tezos is one of the alternatives that has managed to carve out its own niche in the NFT art space.
I recently wrote a beginner’s guide to the Tezos ecosystem and mentioned the most important marketplaces. I only covered a few though, and not in the level of detail they deserve.
These marketplaces play a key role in the Tezos experience, defined by a mix of cyberpunk crypto culture combined with experimental (and highly affordable) indie art. Let’s take a closer look at the most interesting ones.
Objkt.com
objkt.com | General-purpose
Objkt.com has established itself as the clear leader among general-purpose NFT marketplaces on Tezos. It’s the default for most creators and collectors and thus the closest equivalent to OpenSea on the Ethereum blockchain.
The front page of Objkt.com is a great place to begin your exploration if you’re not looking for anything specific. I personally love browsing the ‘Daily Curation’ and ‘Hot Collections’ sections.
Objkt.com is the leading marketplace in the Tezos ecosystem
Another noteworthy option is to browse the ‘Previously Featured’ section. What’s cool about this is that all the items are categorized by genre or type. These include Abstract, Glitch art, Street art, and AI art, as well as Music and Photography NFTs.
The last thing I’ll mention is your profile page. Because of its focus on art, Objkt.com has made sure to present your collection in a really nice way. You can even change how collections are shown on your own and other collectors’ profiles.
fxhash
fxhash.xyz | Generative art
fxhash is easily one of the coolest and most unique platforms on Tezos. It’s certainly worth knowing about as an NFT marketplace but is arguably even better known as a launch platform.
An artist or another creator launches their collection on the platform with a set edition size and price per NFT. By connecting your wallet to the site, you can mint a piece from the collection until it’s sold out. Once it’s sold out, the NFTs are traded on the integrated marketplace on fxhash.
fxhash is the go-to marketplace and launchpad for generative art on Tezos
Since NFTs on fxhash are of the generative kind, you won’t know exactly what a piece looks like until after it’s minted. You obviously avoid this, for good or bad, when you buy a piece on the secondary marketplace.
Some of the biggest NFT artists have launched their works on fxhash, the most notable one being Zancan. You can learn more about him, other leading artists, and fxhash as a whole in my guide to fxhash.
teia
teia.art | Art
teia takes minimalism to the extreme by removing all distractions and truly putting the art in focus. The site shows an endless list of artworks in one column with no other information than the name of the artist and an ID.
The menu at the top lets you see artworks in a few different categories or search for a specific piece or artist. teia really is a unique experience and a great place to get lost in an infinite scroll of cool art.
Each piece of art has its own page with some additional details including a title, a short description, edition size, and of course its price. You can also see all active listings and trading history.
teia is all about the art with a minimum of superfluous elements on the screen
Another cool thing you’ll notice on this page is a series of tags. In addition to telling you something about the piece itself, they also let you discover other pieces with the same tags. Just click on any one of them and get lost in the full-width display of amazing art.
When you find something you like, the buying process is just as simple as on any other marketplace. Connect your wallet in the top right corner and click the button that says “Collect for X tez”. Then, just go to “Manage assets” via the menu in the top right corner to see your entire collection.
Versum
Versum.xyz | Art
Versum is another platform with a clear focus on art and a very intentional design. The interface is clean and minimalistic with little in the way of distractions. You’ll see a wall of cool art as soon as you land on the site and a buying experience very similar to that on the other marketplaces.
There are a couple of cool things to point out about Versum though. First up, it really tries to emphasize personalization. Unlike most platforms which show the same trending NFTs to all users, Versum lets you follow artists and like individual artworks to tailor your personal feed.
One of the unique features on Versum is the ability to create and follow ‘boards’ with interesting art
Furthermore, Versum enables you to create boards with NFTs in specific themes, genres, colors, or however you decide to organize your favorite art. You can also follow boards created by other collectors and artists to get inspired and further improve your personal feed.
The team behind Versum clearly put a lot of thought into its creation and continued development. Check out their great documentation if you want to learn more about it.
8bidou
8bidou.com | Pixel art
8bidou covers its own small niche in the space as a marketplace exclusively for pixel art. I’m personally a sucker for the genre and all the nostalgia and digital nativeness it represents.
Perfectly aligned with the content, 8bidou looks like a site abandoned in the 90s. From its color scheme to its navigation and lack of buttons, 8bidou intentionally fails to follow the most basic design heuristics and certainly isn’t optimized for usability.
The front page of 8bidou is an experience in and of itself
And yet, despite all of that — or perhaps because of it — 8bidou is one of the most interesting and intriguing NFT marketplaces around. It’s fun, weird, quirky, and endearing. It breaks all the norms and challenges the status quo, just like the original crypto ethos and, to some extent, art itself.
From the front page of 8bidou, I recommend going to Market Place, 8BIDOU 銀塩 GIN-EN, 24×24 monochrome, or The Unobtrusive Interface for operating all 8bidou tokens. Each of them provides a different interface, shopping experience, and selection of art.
8bidou’s selection of pixel art can be explored via multiple different interfaces
You might also want to check out this site which aims to provide a more seamless shopping experience for 8bidou. Lastly, if you want a detailed guide to the platform, check out this great one by CryptoMoogle.
typed
typed.art | Text-based NFTs
If you thought 8bidou was fringe and weird, wait ‘til you see typed.art. It’s a platform for text-based NFTs, primarily used for poems and artworks made with letters and special characters. Some just seem to be random strings of words though, so please use your own bs filter before buying anything.
Much like teia and 8bidou, typed is all about art and open exploration. You won’t find any top charts, trending collections, or a handy search function. Instead, you’ll simply be able to scroll through a long list of artworks recently published on the platform.
typed is a truly unique marketplace exclusively for text-based NFTs
Above each piece on the page, you’ll see the name of the creator with a link to their profile. Aside from that, you only have two options to consider: “add” and “collect”.
Adding is essentially adding a piece to your shopping cart. This will create a new “collect” item in the top menu from which you can buy all your NFTs in one transaction. Clicking “collect” underneath an individual piece lets you buy it right away.
As always, this is enabled when you connect your crypto wallet to the site. When you’ve done so, you can also see your entire typed collection on your profile page.
OneOf
OneOf.com | Fan collectibles
OneOf is quite different from the marketplaces above. Its design is modern and familiar, and not something you’re meant to really think about. What you should think about on OneOf is what it sells. And this is what really sets it apart from the others.
OneOf is an NFT platform where musical artists, athletes, and brands can connect with their fans. And you’ll find some big names on there, including Pitbull, Doja Cat, The Notorious B.I.G., and Sports Illustrated.
OneOf features fan NFTs from some of the biggest brands, musicians, and athletes
Their NFTs include signed collectibles, event access, irl experiences, merchandise, VIP tickets, lifetime passes, and more. They come in five different tiers, with different price points and levels of benefits: Green, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and OneOf.
The platform is built on Tezos and Polygon and lets you pay with either crypto or a regular payment card. It’s a very beginner-friendly platform and definitely worth checking out or recommending to a friend.
Closing thoughts
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the Tezos NFT ecosystem and what it represents. The artists and their works obviously play a huge role in this, but so do the whole infrastructure and marketplaces in particular.
The seven marketplaces above should give you a great starting point as an NFT collector in the Tezos ecosystem. Or perhaps they’ll just expand your horizon a bit, whether you’re going for broad market coverage or niche art and collectibles.
For all the great options we already have, I know even more will pop up in the coming months. They will open up new genres in the world of digital art and collectibles and provide us with innovative shopping experiences. I’m excited to explore all of them and share them with you.
If you want some more reading in the meantime, here are some of my other guides that you might find interesting.
