How the Liquid NFT Marketplace works

Every ANON collection lives on the Liquid NFT Marketplace at liquidnfts.finance. If you want to understand ANON, it helps to understand the platform underneath it. This guide walks through who runs Liquid, how the money from a mint is split, what happens when an NFT is resold or redeemed, and how to find your way around the site.

We are not Liquid, and we do not control the platform. Everything below is based on Liquid's own published information at the time of writing. Platforms change, so always check the marketplace's About and Help pages for the current rules before you do anything.

Who runs it?

The Liquid NFT Marketplace is part of the CMC Group of Companies, a UK-based media and marketing group. The same group publishes Crypto Magazine and is behind FUSD, the token used for pricing and backing on Liquid.

The big idea

On most NFT marketplaces, all of the mint money goes to the creator and the platform. After that, an NFT is only worth what the next buyer will pay. Liquid takes a different approach: part of every mint is held as liquidity against the NFT, in FUSD. That gives each collection a visible pool of funds, and gives holders an option to redeem rather than relying only on finding a buyer.

Where the money goes when an NFT is minted

Liquid publishes a standard split for new mints. At the time of writing, its About page lists:

- 50% of the mint price added to the collection's liquidity

- 40% to the creator (the project owner)

- 5% to Liquid as platform fees

- 5% added to the liquidity of existing NFTs already on the platform

The 50% is a minimum. Creators can choose to hold more as liquidity and take less themselves. ANON Apes, for example, add 60% of every mint to liquidity backing.

What happens on a resale

When an NFT is sold on the Liquid marketplace, fees are taken from the sale price. Liquid's published breakdown at the time of writing is:

- 10% to the creator

- 5% added to liquidity

- 5% to the platform

So on a sale, 20% goes in fees and the seller receives the rest. Liquid's own example is an NFT resold for $200, where $40 is taken in fees and the seller receives $160.

Redeeming: the built-in exit

This is the feature that most sets Liquid apart. Every NFT on the platform has a "Redeem Liquidity" button on its page. Pressing it:

1. Burns the NFT, which removes it from the collection permanently.

2. Sends that NFT's share of the collection's liquidity to your wallet in FUSD.

Liquid lists the same fee split for redemptions as for resales, so the amount you receive is less than the full liquidity figure shown against the NFT. Always read the amount on the redeem screen before you confirm, because that is the real number. A burn cannot be undone.

Because a burned NFT leaves the collection, the remaining NFTs share what is left in that collection's pool.

Listing an NFT for sale

If you would rather sell than redeem, you can list your NFT on the marketplace. Liquid offers two options:

- Fixed price: you set the price and anyone can buy it at that price.

- Offer listing: you set a starting price and a duration, and buyers make offers, a bit like an auction.

Liquid's guide notes that offers can only be made in FUSD. If an offer does not succeed, the FUSD is returned to the person who made it.

Buying or minting

To mint or buy, you connect a crypto wallet to the site using the Connect button. Liquid recommends opening the site from the browser built into your wallet app. When you mint or buy, your wallet usually asks you to sign twice:

1. An approval, which gives the contract permission to use the token you are paying with. Nothing is spent at this stage.

2. The purchase itself.

Read both requests carefully before you confirm. Mint prices are shown in FUSD, and the marketplace also accepts some other payment options depending on the chain. You will also need a small amount of the chain's own token to pay the network fee, often called gas.

Which blockchain does it use?

Liquid started on Polygon, but it now supports more than one chain, with a chain selector at the top of the site. Most ANON collections are on Polygon, and ANON Apes were minted on the BESC blockchain. The easiest way to confirm which chain any NFT is on is to open it on the marketplace and look at the Blockchain Detail section, which shows the chain, contract address, token ID and token standard.

Finding your way around the site

The main sections you are likely to use are:

- Explore and Marketplace, for browsing collections and NFTs listed for sale.

- Collections, for each project's page, with figures such as floor price, volume, total supply and items minted.

- Activities, a feed of mints, sales and other actions, including liquidity donations.

- Your Profile, where your NFTs appear once your wallet is connected.

Each collection page has tabs such as Items, Mint, Holders, Activities and About. Individual NFTs show details, traits and price history.

What are liquidity donations?

The marketplace allows extra liquidity to be donated into a collection. At ANON we call these liquidity boosts, and we make them regularly. Each one is logged on our ANON Proof of Work and Liquidity Boosts pages, and can be cross-checked on the marketplace's Activities page.

Things to keep in mind

- Liquid is a third-party platform. ANON does not run it, set its fees or control its contracts.

- All backing is held in FUSD. Its value depends on FUSD and on the platform, not on ANON.

- Marketplace prices are set by buyers and sellers, and can be above or below the backing.

- Fees, chains and features can change. Check Liquid's own pages for the current position.

- You may see strong claims about Liquid NFTs in marketing material. Judge it on what you can check yourself.

Where to go next

- Read What Is Liquidity Backing? for the idea behind it all.

- Learn How to Check NFT Backing On-Chain.

- Browse our Anon Collections page and the ANON Ecosystem page.

- See our Disclosures page for how ANON is funded.

Important: This guide is for general information only and is not financial advice. NFTs and cryptoassets are high risk. Resale prices can fall below what you paid, and liquidity backing does not guarantee any resale price, redemption amount or return. Figures are correct at the time of writing; check the Proof of Work page and on-chain.