Page Summary
NFTs are a popular investment in the UAE, providing opportunities for financial gains and growth of wealth. However, the numerous NFT marketplaces and crypto exchanges offering different trading conditions make it challenging for investors to select the ideal option for their needs.
Proper research and comparison of available providers and their services help traders select a reliable platform with a wide range of NFTs, competitive trading fees, great reputation and excellent trading features.
This guide assesses 31 NFT marketplaces and crypto exchanges in UAE to help users find the ideal option for their needs. A list of the best NFT trading platforms in UAE is listed below, considering: marketplace popularity, curation quality, marketplace community, fees, ease of use, compatibility, regulation and customer support.
Best NFT Trading Platforms and Apps in UAE
- OpenSea – Largest NFT marketplace by sales and user accounts
- Axie Marketplace – Best NFT trading platform for Axie Infinity NFTs
- Larva Labs – Best NFT app for CryptoPunks trading
- NBA Top Shot – Best NFT trading platform for basketball NFTs
- Rarible – Best DeFi NFT marketplace
- SuperRare.co – Best NFT app for unique digital collectibles
- Atomic Market – Best NFT app for sharing liquidity
- Foundation – Best NFT app for royalty-based sales
- Aavegotchi – Best DeFi staking app for NFTs
- MakersPlace – Best NFT app for exclusive content creators
Best NFT Exchanges in UAE Reviewed
NFT marketplaces with the best trading platforms and apps in UAE are reviewed below.
1. OpenSea – World’s Largest NFT Marketplace
OpenSea is the ideal NFT marketplace to get started with NFT trading. Over $10 billion in NFTs have changed hands so far on their platform. OpenSea enlists all kinds of NFTs like in-game items, digital artwork, music, GIFs, and more.
On OpenSea it is not only possible to buy or bid on NFTs. You can also upload NFTs that you have made yourself and sell these or put them up for auction. The OpenSea NFT Library consists of thousands of available NFTs. People trade NFTs in Ethereum on OpenSea, but sometimes in other cryptos like Solana.
2. Axie Marketplace – Best NFT trading platform for Axie Infinity NFTs
On the Axie Marketplace users can buy and sell Axies. These are digital creatures useable in a play-to-earn game called Axie Infinity. The Axie Marketplace runs on Ethereum and Ronin blockchains and owners of Axie NFTs are partial owners of the gaming platform. People cannot trade Axies on other platforms than on the Axie Marketplace. To date, the Axie Marketplace sold more than $2,64 billion worth of Axies.
The Axie Infinity play-2-earn game requires players to have at least 3 Axies to play. They can then ”battle” each other and earn crypto for doing so. About 1,5 million players play this NFT crypto game daily and it’s getting more popular by the day.
3. Larva Labs – Best NFT trading platform and app for CryptoPunks Trading
Larva labs is an NFT app and trading platform where you can buy and sell popular NFTs like CryptoPunks. Larva Labs runs on the Ethereum blockchain and has sold over $1,5 billion worth of NFTs. Users can play an NFT game called Road Trip with their NFTs on the website and via the app.
Lava Labs is working on a project called Meebits, a voxel-based NFT platform with unique tracing capabilities. Users can buy and sell CryptoPunks by connecting their MetaMask wallet to the platform. It is not possible to upload your own NFTs on Larva Labs.
4. NBA Top Shot – Best NFT trading platform for basketball NFTs
NBA Top Shot is the best NFT trading platform for basketball fans. Via this blockchain-based app, you can trade basketball clip NFTs. The app makes these video clips from National Basketball Association (NBA) championship matches. Users can then buy and sell tokenized digital trading cards featuring these clips. One can only buy and sell the clips the platform made and no other NFTs. It is possible to connect crypto-wallets like Binance’s Trust wallet and MetaMask to your NBA Top Shot account.
The basketball NFTs are not only sold in Ethereum on NBA Top Shot. Users can also pay with other cryptocurrencies and buy NFTs with credit cards. Users have sold for over $700 million in NFTs via the NBA Top Shot NFT app so far.
5. Rarible – Best DeFi NFT Marketplace
Rarible is the best decentralized NFT marketplace. This means there are no third parties involved and users trade NFTs with each other. On Rarible users can trade digital collectibles like GIFs, short videos, art, cards, cartoons, and audio clips. One of the best features of Rarible is that all NFTs on the platform are ‘lazy minted’. This means that Rarible hosts the NFTs and tokenizes them when a buyer shows interest. Sellers and NFT creators don’t pay high gas fees this way and the buyer pays for the minting process.
Rarible rewards user activity with RARI governance tokens. These ERC-20 tokens act as the native token of the Rarible platform like Binance’s BNB for the Binance crypto exchange. At the time of writing Rarible has a trading volume of over $250 million.
6. SuperRare.co – Best NFT app for Unique Digital Collectibles
SuperRare is a new NFT app that focuses on exclusive digital collectibles. It features 3D art, video clips, and high-quality GIFs. SuperRare vets each artist before featuring their NFTs on the platform. They also charge a fee of 15% on each sale. SuperRare rewards Digital artists via a royalty program that pays them percentages of future sales of their digital art.
SuperRare has its own $RARE ERC-20 token, which acts as a governance token within the platform. Users can connect their Fortmatic, WalletConnect, or MetaMask wallet to trade the NFTs. If you want to buy exclusive NFTs SuperRare is the right platform.
7. Atomic Market – Best NFT app for shared Liquidity
Atomic Market is a unique NFT app that runs on the EOSIO protocol. This protocol enables a low-cost, energy-efficient, and scalable framework for dApps. Users don’t pay high gas fees on this NFT marketplace because of this. The app functions as a shared liquidity platform for NFTs. This means that all NFTs listed on Atomic Market are also listed on other NFT marketplaces.
Digital artists can create their own NFTs and upload them to Atomic Market. The platform will then showcase these NFTs both on Atomic Market and other popular NFT marketplaces. Users can connect their WAX Cloud, Anchor, and Scatter wallets to trade NFTs in Ethereum. Atomic Market has sold over $100 million in NFTs to this day.
8. Foundation – Best NFT app for royalty-based sales
Foundation is an NFT app that anyone can use. It doesn’t only feature NFTs by well-known digital artists, but also smaller unknown ones. Users can upload all kinds of NFTs on the platform, ranging from digital art to video clips. Foundation charges a 15% commission for minting NFTs on their platform. Users can earn some of these fees back through a 10% royalty gain on resales of their art.
Users can buy NFTs with PayPal on Foundation. This is unique as most other NFT marketplaces only accept crypto (ETH) payments. It is possible to connect MetaMask and WalletConnect to Foundation and users can move their bought NFTs from the platform.
9. Aavegotchi – Best DeFi staking app for NFTs
Aavegotchi is a unique play-to-earn NFT game. Users buy Aavegotchis and equip them with in-game items. These items are tokenized and users can trade them for crypto. With Aavegotchi users can stake their digital tokens to earn interest on their NFTs. Aavegotchi runs on the Polygon network, which uses layer-two Ethereum blockchain technology.
Users can connect their WalletConnect, Venly, and Portis wallet to trade Aavegotchi NFTs and tokenized digital items. There are play-to-earn guilds that people can join to play the game and earn crypto together.
10. MakersPlace – Best NFT app for exclusive content creators
MakersPlace is an NFT marketplace for exclusive content creators. NFTs uploaded on MakersPlace are not featured on other NFT marketplaces. On MakersPlace you will find NFTs from famous artists only like Beeple. You can connect your MetaMask, Coinbase, or Trust Wallet to buy NFTs on MakersPlace. The available payment methods are crypto, PayPal, and credit cards.
If you are a digital artist you can only join the platform if an existing creator sends you an invitation link. MakersPlace charges a 15% commission on every sale but rewards content creators with a 10% royalty on resales.
How To Chose The Ideal Marketplace in UAE For Trading With NFTs?
Criteria for finding an marketplace or crypto exchange with the ideal platform for trading and investing in NFTs are listed below.
- Marketplace popularity – Marketplaces with a greater user base and community allow more flexibility and should be preferred.
- Marketplace curation quality – Marketplaces that provide due diligence on NFTs before their listing guarantee a greater quality of their offering.
- Community engagement and activity – Marketplaces with a more engaged and active community provides better support and should be preferred.
- Fees – NFT trading places with overall lower fees need to be preferred.
- Ease of use – Trading places with an intuitive interface should be preferred as they allow a better user experience.
- Compatibility – Blockchain compatibility (Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Flow and others) and ERC-721 vs. ERC-1155 compatibility need to be considered.
- Reputation – Choosing a reputable exchange increases traders safety and helps avoiding scams. Exchanges reputation needs to be checked considering the following criteria: number of users, positive users feedback and activity of the NFT community
- Customer support – Professional and responsible customer support need to be considered when selecting a NFT marketplace
Top NFT Marketplaces in UAE Compared
Key features of NFT marketplaces with top rated trading platforms in UAE are compared in the table below.
| Marketplaces/ Features | OpenSea | Axie Marketplace | Larva Labs | NBA Top Shot | Rarible | SuperRare.co | Atomic Market | Foundation | Aavegotchi | MakersPlace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Users (Popularity) | High | High | Medium | High | High | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Curation Quality | Variable | High | High | High | Variable | High | Variable | High | High | High |
| Marketplace Community | High | High | Medium | High | High | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Fees | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable | Variable |
| Ease of Use | High | High | Medium | High | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Compatibility | Ethereum | Ethereum | Ethereum | Flow | Ethereum | Ethereum | EOS, WAX | Ethereum | Ethereum | Ethereum |
| Regulation | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Customer Support | Medium | Medium | Low | High | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
What is an NFT trading platform or app?
An NFT trading platform or app is a place where you can buy and sell non-fungible tokens. These are non-duplicatable unique tokens. The ownership of these tokens is registered on the blockchain. Users can see other people’s NFT collections and buy or place bids on their NFTs via an NFT trading platform. If you own NFTs, other users can see your NFT collection via an NFT trading platform or app and buy them from you.
NFTs are a way of storing valuable data on the blockchain. NFT investors trade NFTs to grow their cryptocurrency portfolio and wealth. NFT trading is like physical art trading in some ways. It is possible to invest in NFT coins or NFT tokens. This way you invest in NFT projects without buying NFT art. NFTs are part of Web 3.0 or MetaVerse.
How do NFT trading platforms and apps work?
NFT trading platforms and apps allow users to trade and mint NFTs. The NFT trading platforms and apps showcase the latest, most popular, and most expensive NFTs to generate buyer interest. Users can browse NFT platforms to search for investment opportunities or try to sell their own digital art.
To get started using NFT trading platforms and apps you have to do the following:
- Create an Ethereum wallet (MetaMask and Trust Wallet are the most common ones)
- Create an NFT Marketplace account at your preferred NFT trading platform or app
- Deposit Ethereum into your NFT trading account
- Buy or bid on NFTs you want to add to your NFT collection
Conclusion
Trading with NFTs is an excellent investment to make financial gains and grow wealth. However, with the growing number of marketplaces in the UAE, potential investors need to compare and evaluate essential data to choose the ideal service for their needs.
In this guide, we have worked hard for our readers to keep them safe and informed by comparing and reviewing the services of different marketplaces. We have previously removed scams and unreliable offers lacking security features to help them make informed decisions. Our analysis results in a list of the best NFT trading platforms in UAE, wrapped up in the table below.
- OpenSea – Largest NFT marketplace by sales and user accounts
- Axie Marketplace – Best NFT trading platform for Axie Infinity NFTs
- Larva Labs – Best NFT app for CryptoPunks trading
- NBA Top Shot – Best NFT trading platform for basketball NFTs
- Rarible – Best DeFi NFT marketplace
- SuperRare.co – Best NFT app for unique digital collectibles
- Atomic Market – Best NFT app for sharing liquidity
- Foundation – Best NFT app for royalty-based sales
- Aavegotchi – Best DeFi staking app for NFTs
- MakersPlace – Best NFT app for exclusive content creators
| RANK | BROKER | PLATFORM SCORE | BEST FOR | WEBSITE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | OpenSea | 4,9/5 | Largest NFT marketplace | Official website |
| #2 | Axie Marketplace | 4,1/5 | Axie Infinity NFTs | Official website |
| #3 | Larva Labs | 4,6/5 | CryptoPunks trading | Official website |
| #4 | NBA Top Shot | 4,6/5 | Basketball NFTs | Official website |
| #5 | Rarible | 4,3/5 | DeFi NFT marketplace | Official website |
| #6 | SuperRare.co | 4,2/5 | Unique digital collectibles | Official website |
| #7 | Atomic Market | 4,2/5 | Sharing liquidity | Official website |
| #8 | Foundation | 4,1/5 | Royalty-based sales | Official website |
| #9 | Aavegotchi | 4.0/5 | DeFi staking app | Official website |
| #10 | MakersPlace | 3.8/5 | Exclusive content creators | Official website |
FAQ
Is it legal to trade NFTs in UAE?
Although NFT trading is unregulated, there is nothing illegal about NFT trading in UAE.
What is the best NFT trading platform in UAE?
We recommend OpenSea. This is the world’s largest NFT marketplace with the most users and trading volume.
Can I create my own NFT in UAE?
Yes, you can transform any image, sound, or video file into an NFT by ‘minting’ it via an NFT trading platform or app.
Can I get NFTs for free in UAE?
Yes, sometimes digital artists give away NFTs for free during NFT airdrops. You can check OpenSea and other NFT trading platforms when airdrops happen.
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Stefan Grasic is the owner of Business24-7 and has considerable experience in the financial and investment niche, but also enjoys writing articles for the general readership. Stefan is an active stock, CFD, crypto and general investment researcher, advising blockchain companies such as Blockbird, GoCrypto, Hive Terminal at their start up level.