- The concept of omnichain NFTs attracted growing market interest with the arrival of LayerZero in Apr 2022. Omnichain NFTs are NFTs that can exist/be bridged on more than one chain. The first omnichain collection Gh0stly Gh0st built on 7 chains soon ranked top 10 projects by trading volume on OpenSea a week after launch.
- There are two key narratives around omnichain NFTs: wider utility and simpler payment process. Wider utility enables integration with games or DApps on different chains and enhanced trading liquidity. Simpler payment allows users to purchase NFTs on chain A with currency on chain B, without bridging.
- There are two main types of players: platforms (marketplace, launchpad, bridges) and collections (PFPs). Most platforms are built on LayerZero or Axelar and support EVM chains only.
- The market sizing of omnichain NFTs is still fairly small. 90% of omnichain NFT collection volume is still generated on Ethereum, with low trading volume on all other chains.
- Key challenges include Ethereum dominance, lack of cross-chain utility, and complexity — higher tech barriers for web2 creators compared to regular NFTs.
- Future potential depends on multichain development, open integration, and cross-chain utility expansion across different chains and ecosystems.
- Short-term opportunity is limited; long-term potential exists if the NFT ecosystem becomes more multi-chain and more dApps open for third-party integration.
Context & Objectives
What Is Omnichain NFT?
Omnichain NFTs are NFTs that can exist/be bridged on more than one chain. The interest in the concept spiked with the arrival of LayerZero in early 2022, which is a transport layer using which smart contracts can communicate across blockchains.
Gh0stly Ghosts, a 7.7K free-to-mint NFT collection launched in April 2022, was the first NFT collection with omnichain interoperability. The collection can be freely traversed across 7 chains supported by LayerZero.
Narratives
The ability to be transported to different chains can unlock wider utilities for NFTs, including:
- Gas efficiency — choice of minting at lower cost chains
- Wider integration opportunities with games or DApps
- Enhanced liquidity with more expansive access to audiences on different chains and thus higher resale value
Omnichain vs. Multichain
Multi-chain capability is another solution for ecosystem fragmentation and expanding NFT utilities. However, from a UX standpoint, the omnichain solution is more seamless: users can purchase NFTs on chain A with payment currency on chain B, without needing to bridge or exchange currencies.
Competitor Landscape
1 / Omnichain Marketplaces
Comparing three major NFT marketplaces with omnichain capabilities, two different models emerge:
Native omnichain platforms are built on top of cross-chain messaging tools like LayerZero or Axelar. Table-stake features include (1) minting ONFTs, (2) wrapping non-omnichain NFTs to omnichain NFTs, and (3) bridging omnichain NFTs across chains. OmniX, a fork of LooksRare, additionally supports chain-agnostic payment with its platform token $OMNI.
Multi-chain platforms with omnichain capability (e.g. TofuNFT) do not provide minting/wrapping but support trading of certain omnichain NFT collections and provide a storefront for omnichain NFTs to traverse across chains.
| Omni X | Omnisea | Holograph | TofuNFT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | Not launched yet | Sep 2022 | Testnet beta | Sep 2021 |
| Nature | NFT Marketplace | NFT Launchpad | NFT Launchpad & bridge | NFT Marketplace |
| Architecture | LayerZero, Stargate Finance | Internal Omnichain router (LayerZero + Axelar) | LayerZero messaging; Holograph Bridge for interoperability | LayerZero |
| Chains | 7 chains (ETH, ARB, OP, BNB, AVAX, MATIC, FTM) | 8 chains (ARB, AVAX, BNB, ETH, FTM, Moonbeam, OP, MATIC) | 5 chains (ETH, MATIC, AVAX, BSC, OP) | 28 chains (multichain) |
| Token | $OMNI | $OSEA | — | — |
2 / Omnichain NFT Collections
Looking at three top omnichain NFT collections, several observations emerge:
- Most existing omnichain collections are built with LayerZero technology and only exist on 7 EVMs supported by LayerZero
- Trading volume remains low after initial hype, with >90% of trading volume happening on Ethereum — likely because teams have not actively pushed for integration of collections with dApps on other chains post-launch
- Among the three OG collections, only KanpaiPandas remain actively traded — and volume is driven by real-world events, not omnichain features
| Gh0stly Gh0st | Tiny Dinos | KanpaiPandas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | 4 Apr 2022 | 5 Apr 2022 | 22 Apr 2022 |
| Collection | 7,710 | 10,000 | 10,000 + 50 honorary |
| Mint Price | Free | Free | $400 USDC |
| Floor Price | 0.06 ETH | 0.09 ETH | 0.42 ETH |
| Volume (30D) | 8 ETH | 18 ETH | 722 ETH |
Conclusion
The omnichain NFT market is still in a nascent stage. Analysis of key ecosystem players reveals that market size remains tiny with limited near-term opportunities.
Critical challenges for mass adoption:
- Ethereum Dominance — Ethereum still commands more than 70% of NFT transaction volume
- Lack of cross-chain utility — limited games or dApps are open to integrating third-party NFT collections across chains
- Complexity — higher barriers for web2 creators compared to regular NFTs
Future market potential can only be unlocked if:
- Multichain development — chains other than Ethereum take up higher market share in NFT activities
- Open integration — more dApps and games open their ecosystems to third-party NFT projects
- Cross-chain utility expansion — projects become willing to expand utilities onto different chains
In the short term, the opportunity presented by omnichain is rather limited. In the long-term, omnichain has the potential to become a major solution to NFT market fragmentation and empower NFT interoperability — but this depends on the NFT ecosystem going more multi-chain, and more dApps and games being open for integration.