Imagine an artform being sold for $69 million when the creator could not even sell a print worth $100 in the past. It was the first time non-fungible tokens or NFT grabbed massive attention among artists, art lovers, and the tech community on the whole.

2021 can be considered an exciting year for NFTs as their market reached a whopping $41 billion in size. In addition, the success of NFT platforms and the marketplace has attracted several artists, musicians, and digital creators.

The NFT (Non-Fungible Token) marketplace is the first place to buy and sell your non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It's a marketplace where anyone can buy, sell, or transfer their unique NFTs. You can use NFTs to buy and sell items in the real world or simply trade them with other users in the marketplace.

However, building such a marketplace needs a reliable tech stack that can cater to the unique needs of NFT transactions. So, here we are with a comprehensive guide on the tech stack for the NFT marketplace.

Identifying the NFT niche

NFT marketplaces can offer multiple niches related to the arts. For example, while some marketplace provides fine arts from different artists for users to add to collectibles, others cater to a specific niche like musical NFTs.

For example, Opensea is one of the most popular NFT marketplaces that offer a platform for peer-to-peer transactions between users for non-fungible tokens of the image, video, audio, or 3D art. Similarly, several NFT marketplaces provide platforms to users and artists to have a peer-to-peer exchange of such tokens.

At the same time, there is also the NFT marketplace for music also like,

• NFT Showroom
• SuperRare
• NiftyGateway
• Rarible
• Foundation
• MakersPlace
• Mintable

So, you can either choose a specific niche-based NFT marketplace or a peer-to-peer model that offers NFTs across niches. The choice will depend on specific business requirements, target audience, business model, and revenue stream. Identifying the niche is also essential to determine the tech stack you will need for an NFT marketplace.

Now, let's discuss different elements of the tech stack most common to every NFT marketplace.

Decentralized database

Before we discuss why you need a decentralized database, you need to know how NFT works! NFTs or Non-fungible tokens are unique crypto assets that can't be replaced with another asset or entity.

Let's take an example of the famous art Monalisa. You can't replace the famous Monalisa with any other artwork as it is a unique piece of human history, and that is how NFT becomes so valuable. However, what makes a decentralized database so essential for NFTs is the blockchain technology that is at the core of all NFT-based transactions.

Instead of the financial institution providing approval for each transaction, blockchain technology allows it to be a public record and approved by crypto miners. These minors validate every transaction and record them on a public ledger which is updated every ten minutes with a new block making it an effective democratized system.

Here, tokens are unique identifiers for every NFT, making them non-replaceable powered through powerful technologies like Ethereum-based smart contracts. While such technology makes NFTs far more valuable than fungible currency, you will need a distributed database system to enable it.

So, what are your options?

There are several options for you when it comes to decentralized database systems. For example, you can leverage IFPS(Interplanetary File System) to store and secure off-chain NFTs. This is necessary due to the high cost of replicating data across several nodes in a network on blockchain.

IFPS uses a hash function to convert data into hash values which act as a unique identifier. Hashing is not new and digital signatures for software use hash values to ensure code integrity for any user that downloads it. Similarly, with IFPS, users can retrieve NFT data through the closest possible nodes in the network. 

IFPS provides a peer-to-peer network just like BitTorrent seeding and any user can request data through a hash value from the nearest nodes. Similarly, you can also leverage Filecoin, another peer-to-peer network where users can store important data by paying for storage. It is based on blockchain technology and has a native cryptocurrency called FIL. All the transactions for storing data and renting computer storage occur in FIL.

However, if you are thinking of developing a customized decentralized database, CockroachDB is a great option. It is a highly-available and scalable database that can help you with a decentralized database service across multiple regions globally.

For example, Mythical Games is one of the top blockchain-based gaming startups that use CockroachDB to serve more than 1,00,000 concurrent users. This is why CockroachDB can be an ideal choice for your NFT marketplace platform.

Now that you have figured out what NFT niche your platform will serve and a decentralized database to support the tech stack, let's discuss the NFT wallet.

Crypto wallet

If you are building an NFT platform, one of the most important aspects is having a crypto wallet for blockchain-based transactions. Ethereum is an excellent technology for your NFT wallet due to its unique smart contracts, which can not only act as a proof of concept but also enable token-based transactions.

Ethereum has its own cryptocurrency ETH, which you can leverage to facilitate NFT transactions on your marketplace. All you need is to deploy it on the Ethereum Virtual Machine(EVM) and leverage ETH to exchange NFT. Moreover, you can also allow users to use several other cryptocurrencies that use Ethereum at its core, like Polygon or Decentraland.

Rarible script

There are two ways to develop an NFT marketplace application; one is the longer route where you hire developers, project managers, QAs, and more to develop decentralized apps. Here, you will have to identify features, decide frontend and backend frameworks, devise a development plan, and execute it efficiently.

At the same time, there is a shorter route of opting for a Rarible clone script and creating your NFT marketplace in no time. Rarible has been one of the most popular platforms for exchanging digital collectibles. It facilitates transactions for collectibles in the domain of metaverses, gaming, artwork, Defi, and punks.

However, using a clone script will have all the issues of the original platform plus restricted flexibility that you don't get in customized app development. If you plan to build an in-house application, you can consider several backend frameworks like Node.Js and Express.Js. For the frontend, React Native, Angular, and Vue.Js can be great options.

What to choose for your NFT marketplace?

NFT is an evolving market, and on the technology front, new avenues will be constantly discovered. So, getting confused on what tech stack to choose for your NFT marketplace is commonplace.

However, building an NFT marketplace and choosing the right tech stack becomes easier if you have your business case strong. So, analyze your business model-specific load, latency, and database requirements and choose the best tech stack for the NFT marketplace.