Online marketplace eBay to allow NFT sales

Online marketplace eBay has introduced auctions for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, to its platform.

According to a Reuters report, eBay users who meet certain criteria on the platform will be permitted to list NFTs. The company added that it would expand its policies and tools surrounding digital collectibles in the future.

"In the coming months, eBay will add new capabilities that bring blockchain-driven collectibles to our platform," said eBay's North America senior vice president, Jordan Sweetnam.

The report comes almost exactly one week after CEO Jamie Iannone said the platform would be "exploring opportunities" to enable NFTs on the platform "in an easy way." The CEO said buyers and sellers were already able to deal in NFTs on eBay but that the platform had not yet simplified the process. Iannone said at the time that the company was also considering introducing crypto payment options.

Executives at the online marketplace have previously hinted that eBay could be open to accepting crypto payments. Three years ago, a senior vice president at the firm said eBay was "seriously considering" integrating Bitcoin (BTC) into its platform as a payment method.

Thousands of projects featuring NFTs have exploded in the crypto space over the last few months, seemingly following the example of multimillion-dollar sales of digital artwork on online marketplaces. The introduction of the tokens into a marketplace like eBay with roughly 187 million active buyers has the potential to keep the craze going for even longer.