We’ve been working on this with the folks at Algorand for a while now and, today, we’re psyched to announce the development of what we’ve been calling “AlgoMart.”

AlgoMart is an open source platform for creating your own NFT marketplace, built by us on top of the Algorand blockchain.

The most exciting thing about this project, however, is that it’s the first of its kind. No one has released a solution for businesses to be able to create their own NFTs on their own, without the paid assistance of third party companies.

And, frankly, that’s really kind of shocking. Because the NFT biz is booming. Sales for NFTs soared 20-fold within a year, from $13.7 million in the first half of 2020 to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021. The value of of these digital assets is undeniable, and more and more businesses are looking to take advantage of what they can offer.

“NFTs exploded this year as many of the world’s top brands realized the role the digital assets can play in a diverse set of applications. A missing component, however, has been a straightforward way to launch a marketplace to leverage the benefits of these unique digital assets,” said David Markley, the director of business solutions at Algorand.

NFTs represent an exciting new means for businesses to cultivate a relationship with their customers by providing an experience that is both of the current cultural moment as well as exciting and unique.

The problem is, as Markley says, that the process of actually creating NFTs is less than easy. The options available are limited and, moreover, require businesses to create their NFTs within the boundaries of a predetermined, fixed user experience that the businesses in question don’t get to control for themselves.

We recognized the need to lower the barrier to entry to allow brands to take charge of their digital assets and how their users ultimately engage with them.

AlgoMart is an open source project provides core modules that can be used out of the box and enable brands to easily create new models and experiences, whether that’s engaging with customers through auctions for digital collectibles, creating NFTs to engage with gamers in the metaverse, offering something redeemable in the real-world, or blending physical and digital experiences to create one that’s, well, awesome.

It’s also built on top of Algorand’s technology. Their blockchain is one of the most environmentally friendly out there. It’s also highly scalable and features some pretty low-cost transaction fees. Win, win, win.

Finally, the development and deployment experiences use infrastructure like Terraform and Docker to make it as easy as possible for brands to get started. The added bonus of integrated payments through Circle (another Rocket client!) also makes things easy. Circle payments allow users to skip the complexities of creating and managing wallets, so that they can use a credit card or bank account just like any other ecommerce transaction.

“People want to engage with digital ownership and digital collectibles,” said Jesse Streb, founding partner here at Rocket. “NFTs represent better monetization for creators and a more intimate connection with consumers, all while providing more financial utility to the owners. At the end of the day, it’s a fundamentally better distribution method that brands can leverage to generate new and increased value. Our NFT marketplace provides a more flexible, energy-efficient and usable infrastructure for brands to be able to take advantage of the massive opportunities that exist within NFTs.”

To learn more about AlgoMart and launch your own NFT marketplace, visit https://github.com/deptagency/algomart.