If you look up “NFT” on the iOS App Store, the first result that appears is OpenSea. This is not surprising. With a recent funding round that valued the company at over $13B, OpenSea is the undisputed leader in the NFT space.

However, right below OpenSea in the #2 spot is a company that until recently, most people had never heard of. The app is called NFT GO, and it boasts an average of 4.6 stars from 10,300 ratings in the U.S. alone at the time of writing this article.                          

We decided to explore this app to understand how it landed as the #2 NFT app in the U.S., especially considering that major companies like Coinbase, Binance, FTX, and Crypto.com all have their own competing versions of an NFT marketplace on the App Store as well.

What we found is that NFT GO offers a sleek, easy-to-use interface that lets users buy NFTs from collections right on the app. Though it may appear simple, the NFT GO app is one of the only apps on the App Store that allows users to mint NFTs directly on mobile (OpenSea does not yet support mobile minting). NFT GO works on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, with a note that more networks will be added soon.

Given that only 14% of U.S. adults currently have crypto holdings, NFT GO has made the decision to enable users to mint and buy real NFTs without requiring them to use any crypto. Users transact using native in-app purchases.

“We make it possible to purchase NFTs using native in-app purchases, because that’s the most frictionless experience available on mobile. Users pay using a method they’re familiar with, and we take care of the complex crypto transactions in the backend,” says a spokesperson for NFT GO. 

“What the user experiences is a one-tap system through which they can mint NFTs in a way they’re already familiar with: direct, mobile-native in-app purchases. There’s no easier way to buy an NFT, period.”

Unlike OpenSea, NFT GO comes with a built-in mobile NFT wallet that securely stores all NFTs that a user mints or buys on the platform. Users can then list their NFTs for sale directly on the NFT GO mobile app or import their NFT GO wallet to OpenSea or other marketplaces and sell there.

NFT GO appears to be experiencing significant growth, with over 200,000 new wallets created or imported on NFT GO in January 2022. Their website explains that they are working on further developing their payouts program so that creators on the platform are rewarded for contributing to their ecosystem.

NFT GO has established a large presence in the mobile NFT space in a short time. Can they take over the number-one spot on the iOS App Store? It is too soon to tell, but as 2022 unfolds and more users presumably learn about NFT GO, we may very well find out.