NFT marketplace Magic Eden raises $27 million as demand cools

The capital infusion comes as the marketplace for NFTs, which has flooded popular culture on the heels of last year’s crypto returns, celebrity endorsements, and an emerging theme of investing in the metaverse, is showing signs of cooling. The funding will be used to invest in partnerships, build out a gaming vertical, and launch a mobile application that allows users to browse, mint, and trade NFTs, Magic Eden said. “Our goal is to make a clear distinction between Web2 and Web3, allowing creators, collectors and supporters to engage with each other and lead the direction of their online interactions,” Lu said in a press release statement. These crypto assets don’t fit neatly into a single category but over the past year its popular projects involve digital collectibles that serve as a signal or key to an exclusive online community. Having tinkered with NFTs for close to a decade, Levine stressed that the most popular NFT projects survive over time thanks to the growth of an active online community.