LooksRare
LooksRare is a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace that puts community first and actively rewards everyone who uses the platform. You can get LOOKS tokens whether you're a creator, collector, or trader. The ultimate goal of the LooksRare platform is to reward platform users and artists.
Also, LooksRare's smart contracts are built on a modular framework that makes it possible to add new features over time. This is achieved without sacrificing safety, as the execution strategy is clearly defined by standardized signatures.
LooksRare.org was formed, to the best of anyone's knowledge, by two anonymous individuals who go by the internet nicknames "Zodd" and "Guts." And, if journalists attempted to contact the LooksRare team, they were incredibly difficult to reach because their website only listed titles/job descriptions and pseudonyms. The two had worked together before on various message boards, where they made it clear that they wanted to start an alternative market to OpenSea. Their goal was to create a financial incentive system that would get people to switch from other platforms to theirs. This made almost every early LooksRare project heavily focused on making and using the LOOKS token, with a good dose of marketing hype.
LooksRare, the NFT platform, has been operational since January 2022. Its purpose was to build a market that rewarded clients for using the service. According to Dune Analytics, the number of transactions on LooksRare was more than twice as high as the number of transactions on OpenSea, which dominated the market last year. To get the most out of the LooksRare reward system, many users may transfer to a second account they already have to make trades.
The community-focused NFT marketplace is built on three main pillars: User Reward: People who buy or sell NFTs on the platform get LOOKS, the native token of the NFT marketplace. Redistribution Platform Fees: All Platform Fees are given to Stakeholders. Instant Royalty Payment: Creators get royalty payments at the time of sale.
LOOKS is mostly utilized on the platform for four main purposes:
Staking Reward- LooksRare users can stake their LOOKS tokens on the platform to earn over 700% APR in WETH (wrapped Ether) and LOOKS.
Trading Reward- The LOOKS token is also a form of incentive for users and creators who are active on its platform. On the LooksRare platform, users who buy and sell NFTs from certain collections are rewarded with LOOKS tokens.
Platform Fees Distribution- LooksRare takes a basic sales fee of 2% (in WETH) from all NFT sales, excluding private sales. All WETH received from these fees is combined at the end of each recurring 6,500 Ethereum block period (about 24 hours) and given to stakers.
Listing Reward- NFT collectors and traders can also get LOOKS tokens just by putting NFTs up for sale on LooksRare. Traders get points for their eligible listings every 10 minutes, which they can turn into LOOKS once a day.
| DATE | NEWS/EVENTS | IMPACT |
| 06/04/2022 | Bloomberg stated that around $18 billion, or 95% of the platform's overall trading volume, is from wash trading | -27% Decrease |
| 01/04/2022 | LooksRare gets listed on Kucoin Exchange | +21% Increase |
| 28/02/2022 | FTX will list LooksRare Spot and Perpetual Futures | +53% Increase |
| 14/02/2022 | The LooksRare team withdraws $30 million from WETH, faces community backlash | -40% Decrease |
CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that LooksRare's progress in the NFT market has been impressive. LooksRare has been able to overtake its competitor OpenSea in sales volume by giving generous rewards to all network participants, from traders to stakers. Still, there are a lot of worries about wash trading, so it remains to be seen if LooksRare can really reach the goal of a community-first NFT marketplace and ensure its long-term success. LooksRare has a lot of growth potential as long as there is active interest in the NFT market. What happens next, only time can tell.
