Great, there's a buy now, pay later service for NFTs

For those desperate to own a certificate of authenticity for a URL pointing to an ugly monkey illustration or other popular non-fungible token, there is a buy-it-now, pay-later (BNPL) service that they can use to finance their purchases. Teller's offering works with some of the most notable NFT collections, such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Adidas Originals: Into the Metaverse. It runs on the Polygon blockchain and has a terrible name: Ape Now, Pay Later.

"Buying NFTs is one of the biggest things Web3 consumers want to do right now," Ryan Berkun, Founder and CEO of Teller, told Decrypt. "Buy now, pay later is a no-brainer." No tricks are needed at this point.

Like other BNPL services, Tether requires a deposit. When someone sees a compatible NFT they want on the OpenSea marketplace, they can use Teller's service to signal their intent to purchase it. This person will have to pay between 25 and 50% of the price of the NFT initially. Teller's platform will then try to match them with a lender, which is another user.

If the lender accepts the proposal, it will transfer the remaining cryptocurrency needed to buy the NFT to OpenSea. The NFT will then be held in an escrow wallet. If the buyer repays what he borrowed on time, he will receive the NFT. Otherwise, the lender can claim the NFT and sell it if they wish. Lenders can also set interest rates for repayments.

Given the volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the state of the global economy, buying an NFT through a BNPL service seems like a bad idea. Sure, cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed in recent months (which played a part in the loss of significant sums to victims of the Axie Infinity hack), but there's a chance that they can go back up again. As a result, these BNPL payments could become much more expensive. Buyers only have 90 days to issue refunds.

The NFT market has also bottomed out. Bloomberg notes that the base price for a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT was around 90 Ethereum (about $110,000 at the time of writing). This represents a decrease of approximately 40% since May.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.