How OBOL rates NFT marketplaces
Listing an NFT means granting a contract permission to move it. That approval is the single largest risk in this category — it is how most NFT theft actually happens, through a signature the owner did not understand on a site they thought was a marketplace. So approval and custody safety carries the most weight in this rubric.
Volume is the metric these platforms compete on and the one we trust least. Wash trading has been endemic here for years, inflated by token incentives that paid users to trade with themselves. We score liquidity by whether a listed item actually sells near its stated floor, not by reported turnover.
Royalties: the policy nobody wants to state plainly
The market moved from enforced royalties to optional ones because traders preferred cheaper trades, and most platforms obscured that shift rather than announcing it. We score the honesty of the disclosure as much as the policy itself — creators are entitled to know what a venue will actually pay them.
What we do not evaluate
We do not judge collections, predict floor prices or assess whether an NFT is worth buying. This category rates the venue: whether it settles trades safely, charges what it says, and lets you exit.