Nifty Gateway Review
Nifty Gateway is a top NFT art marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain with backing from Gemini, the crypto exchange created by the Winklevoss Twins.
NFTs on the platform are called “Nifties” and drops take place every three weeks and then after the drop the only place to purchase the NFTs is the Nifty Gateway marketplace where you can find works by celebrated artists and musicians such as Steve Aoki, deadmau5, Grimes, Kenny Scharf and Beeple.
Anyone can apply to be a creator and as an artist, they get to choose what commissions they receive, it could be 5% of every secondary sale, or 50%. Nifty Gateway takes 5% + 30 cents of every secondary sale regardless of artist fee.
- Exclusive Nifty drops every three weeks
- Some of the top musicians and artists in the world are on the platform
- Can purchase with credit card and no knowledge of crypto
Nifty Gateway Pros & Cons
Pros
Extremely exclusive artists on the platform
Purchase NFTs with a credit card
Easy to use platform for crypto beginners
Cons
Custodial NFT marketplace (no wallet)
Need to be popular artist to be accepted to platform
What is Nifty Gateway?
Nifty Gateway is an NFT marketplace for world class artists and musicians, with an application process that is hard to get past unless you are top tier.
The result is a platform that has some of the best and most re-sellable NFTs on the market, all with a great user interface. By accepting credit cards as their main payment method Nifty Gateway has created NFT accessibility for those who may not be comfortable navigating the use of a crypto wallet and making transactions.
Is Nifty Gateway Safe?
While purchasing and selling NFTs on Nifty Gateway is safe, it should be noted that it is a custodial NFT marketplace, meaning the NFTs are not stored in your wallet, but on the platform.
You do not need to connect a wallet like with OpenSea. This has created an issue where users who did not set up two-factor authentication (2FA), had NFTs taken from their account because the hackers simply had to log in to the website and withdraw/send the NFTs without ever having to sign a blockchain transaction.
In addition, because it is credit card friendly, hackers were able to purchase NFTs on the platform and immediately send them to themselves.
How to Purchase an NFT on Nifty Gateway
There are a few different ways to purchase NFTs on Nifty Gateway.
There are drops, which can be open, limited, or by auction. Sometimes they are done by raffle or lottery too, but drops are the only way to directly purchase the art from the artist.
After these drops are done you can purchase it on the marketplace, either by making an offer (if the seller has that option allowed), purchase it for the list price, or make a global offer, which means that every owner of the piece (if multiple), will get a notification that you are paying X amount and choose to accept or not.
What Wallets Does Nifty Gateway Accept?
Nifty Gateway does not require users to connect any web-based or hardware cryptocurrency wallets to use the platform, as it is a custodial marketplace.
The works you purchase are stored on the platform unless you withdraw them to an external wallet address, but they cannot be sold on Nifty Gateway when in your external wallet such as MetaMask. You can list them on another marketplace like OpenSea once withdrawn, or deposit them back into the Nifty Gateway platform when you want to sell them.
Advantages of Nifty Gateway
The main draw with Nifty Gateway is the exclusivity of the artists which are part of the marketplace, some of the top artists from around the world comprise the available works on the site. Drops are predictable and easy to keep up with and reselling after your purchase is easy too.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of Nifty Gateway is its ease of use for beginners, because they can simply set up their account and pay for NFTs with a credit card, rather than setting up a crypto wallet, funding it with ETH, connecting it, paying gas fees, and signing transactions.
Disadvantages of Nifty Gateway
While the exclusivity of Nifty Gateway makes for some great drops, it also means you are unlikely to be able to get your work on their unless you already have some sway in the industry. This means for almost every other artist they need to use another marketplace like OpenSea or Rarible.
The other disadvantage of Nifty Gateway is the fact that it is a custodial NFT marketplace, meaning you do not really hold the NFT unless you withdraw it from the website, which is not a simple process compared to the process for buying NFTs on the platform. Because they are stored on an account, if someone logs in to your account, they can simply withdraw the NFT to their own address, which happened to some users who did not have 2FA active.
Nifty Gateway Frequently Asked Questions
Nifty Gateway takes 5% plus 30 cents of every sale on the site, which is twice as much as OpenSea, and the same as Rarible.
A Nifty Gateway drop, also known as a “Nifty” drop is the only way to buy an NFT from Nifty Gateway before they hit the secondary market. Drops can be auctions of one-of-a-kind pieces, packs of random art by the artist sold to a limited or open edition or done as a raffle or draw.
Nifty Gateway is owned by Gemini Exchange which is owned by the Winklevoss Twins.
A “nifty” is Nifty Gateway’s marketing term for an NFT dropped on the platform. Nifties are dropped every three weeks and then are only available on the secondary market.
In order to list your own NFTs on Nifty Gateway you have to be approved as a creator by the platform, which is fairly exclusive. You can list NFTs that you purchased on Nifty Gateway easily from your account.
