Foundation

Foundation Review

Foundation has been active since 2020 and is based in the US.

If you're looking for cheap NFTs from unknown artists, you might find them here as well, but most of the NFTs minted and sold here are produced by more well-known NFT-creators. The long list of creators with NFTs sold on this marketplace includes names like * Chris *, Pak, Kevin Roose, pplpleasr, Jack Butcher etc.

What is an NFT Marketplace?

An NFT Marketplace is a marketplace for NFTs. So far so good. But what is an NFT?

NFT is an acronym for “Non-Fungible Tokens”. Something which is fungible is replaceable. For instance, one kilo of 24 karat gold is – at least in theory – replaceable with any other kilo of 24 karat gold. When something is non-fungible, it means that it is unique, and not replaceable with any other item out there.

Although NFTs are conceptually similar to cryptocurrencies, these digital assets might represent antiques & artworks, collectables like trading cards, and other items with unique features. These tokens are stored cryptographically in a blockchain network for authentication and validation. Even when transacting, each token is sold as a whole, unlike cryptocurrencies which are divisible into smaller units. NFTs lose their value when split into smaller portions, however, they can be duplicated by the artist and each additional copy can be sold separately (but the total number of duplicates will then always be known).

Foundation Focus

The key focus of Foundation is exclusive digital art. The platform is built on the Ethereum network, and in order to use it you need to connect a wallet (such as MetaMask).

Layout of Foundation

Different NFT Marketplaces present their NFTs, the latest bid and the remaining time of an auction etc. in different ways. What you are most comfortable with viewing and using is up to you and no one else. The following picture is a print screen from Foundation's browse section. The default sorting order is that the auction ending in the shortest period of time is displayed first. 

If you zone in to one of the specific NFTs, in this case the NFT called Point of No Return created by the artist @levelbevel, the page layout is as follows. As can be seen from the picture below, the layout primarily includes information on how much time that's left of the auction, that the current bid is in ETH (and what it corresponds to in USD), how rare it is and a brief description. 

Foundation Fees

When you buy an NFT somewhere, it is customary for the relevant NFT Marketplace to charge a fee for enabling the sale. This fee is typically a percentage of the NFT's sale price and is normally paid by the buyer. This can be compared with how regular art galleries normally take a share of the sale of any paintings etc. hanging in the gallery when a sale is executed.

At Foundation, you will have to pay 15.00% in service fees. We do not know of any other NFT Marketplace charging higher fees than this, but there are a few charging exactly that (15.00%). These fees are excluding the Ethereum gas fees that the Ethereum network requires in order to process transactions. 

While 15.00% is on the highest end among NFT Marketplaces, it would be considered a very competitive fee compared to an ordinary physical art gallery (where 30-50% in gallery fees is not entirely uncommon).

Accordingly, if you purchase an NFT at Foundation and you have to pay USD 1,000 for it,  be advised that USD 150 of this is not paid for the actual NFT but to cover fees in addition to the actual value of the NFT.

Foundation Payment Methods

A few of the NFT Marketplaces out there accept deposits and payments via credit or debit card, and some even accept PayPal-deposits and withdrawals.

Foundation is not one of them, as it doesn’t allow withdrawals or deposits through credit/debit cards or PayPal. Accordingly, you need to have a previous holding of ETH in order to be able to interact on this particular marketplace.