NFT users selling to themselves to create hype

Cooling demand: A representation of cryptocurrency ethereum next to an NFT collection. Demand in the industry has declined since January. — Reuters

NEW YORK: A closer look at the LooksRare platform that has quickly become the leading non-fungible tokens (NFT) marketplace by trading volume shows that most of the activity is actually users selling tokens to themselves to help earn rewards in the form of more coins.

The platform was launched in January by two anonymous co-founders - who go by Zodd and Guts - as an alternative to market leader OpenSea during the height of the NFT boom. The site had planned to add new features to lure NFT enthusiasts, according to a blog post at the time. Almost all of those initiatives have focused on the incentive programme built around the Looks token awarded to active users of the platform.