Sudo and Verse: Alternative Models for NFT Marketplaces

Key Insights

• New NFT sub-verticals (such as gaming, real estate, and social identity) are poised to emerge over the coming months and years.
• Bonding curve-based marketplaces are better suited to serve these verticals compared to the open auction model popularized by OpenSea and MagicEden.
• Bonding curves allow for custom, deterministic pricing of assets with instant liquidity. This feature enables developers to dampen the volatility of the assets they design, creating increased stability for developers’ ecosystems.
• SudoAMM and Verse are two developing bonding curve-based protocols with different approaches.

OpenSea and Magic Eden have dominated the NFT marketplace scene with a basic auction model over the last two years. Profile picture (PFP) traders and fine art enthusiasts alike bought and sold NFTs to the tune of billions of dollars in volume across these two platforms.

That said, the battle for marketplace share is far from over. NFTs won’t be limited to Fiverr PFP collections and art trading forever. New verticals like gaming, real estate, or social identity already have billions of dollars invested in them.