What is Rarible (RARI)?
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🟢 The simple version
Plain English — no jargon. Start here.
Rarible is a multi-chain NFT marketplace and creator platform that lets anyone mint, buy, and sell NFTs across Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tezos, and other chains — one of the earliest NFT marketplaces (launched 2020), known for giving creators strong royalty controls and pioneering community governance via the RARI token.
How is Rarible different from OpenSea?
Rarible launched in early 2020, around the same time as OpenSea, and the two grew together during the NFT boom of 2021. The key early differences: Rarible launched its RARI governance token in mid-2020 — one of the first marketplace governance tokens — rewarding both buyers and sellers with RARI for trading activity. This made Rarible feel more "community-owned" than OpenSea, which remained centralised and fee-extracting without a token for years.
Rarible was also earlier on creator royalties — providing robust tools for creators to set on-chain royalty percentages so they earn from secondary sales automatically. When Blur and others started undermining royalties in 2022-2023, Rarible maintained a stronger pro-creator stance, which built loyalty among artists and digital creators even as trading volume shifted elsewhere.
Rarible Protocol — the B2B layer
Beyond the consumer marketplace, Rarible built Rarible Protocol — an open-source set of smart contracts and APIs that other projects can use to build their own NFT marketplaces. Rather than competing only as a consumer marketplace against OpenSea and Blur, Rarible positioned itself as infrastructure: any project wanting to launch NFT trading can use Rarible Protocol as the backend, with Rarible earning fees from that activity. This B2B infrastructure play diversifies revenue beyond the direct consumer marketplace.
Is RARI legal in India?
Yes. RARI qualifies as a Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) under Indian law. 30% tax on gains and 1% TDS applies. Always consult a tax professional.
🟡 A bit more detail
For when you want to go a little deeper.
Rarible's multi-chain expansion
Rarible expanded aggressively to multiple chains: Ethereum (original), Flow (NBA Top Shot's chain), Tezos (popular with digital artists due to low fees), Polygon, Immutable X, Solana, and others. This multi-chain strategy is both a strength and a weakness. Strength: Rarible can serve NFT communities on whichever chain they prefer rather than being Ethereum-only. Weakness: liquidity and activity is fragmented across many chains, reducing the depth of any single marketplace.
In the post-2022 NFT market, Rarible's volume share declined significantly versus the dominant players (OpenSea, Blur, Magic Eden on Solana). The broader NFT market contracted sharply — trading volumes fell 95%+ from peak. Rarible's multi-chain presence means it maintained some activity across different ecosystems, but volume in each chain's market remains modest.
The NFT market peaked in Q1 2022 and has seen significant decline since. Rarible's business is directly tied to NFT trading volume across its supported chains. A broad NFT market recovery would benefit Rarible, but competitive dynamics (Blur on Ethereum, Magic Eden on Solana) remain challenging. Live data: CoinGecko
RARI token and DAO
RARI token holders govern Rarible DAO — voting on marketplace fee parameters, protocol upgrades, treasury allocation, and which chains to support next. The DAO controls a treasury funded by marketplace fees. RARI was pioneering in 2020 when governance tokens for NFT marketplaces were novel; today, governance token models are standard across DeFi and NFT protocols. The token doesn't directly entitle holders to fee revenue (it's governance rather than profit-share), though governance can vote to implement revenue-sharing mechanisms.
🟣 The full technical picture
For the technically curious.
Key facts
- Token: RARI (governance — Rarible DAO)
- Launch: 2020 — one of the earliest NFT marketplaces alongside OpenSea
- Category: Multi-chain NFT marketplace + creator tools + B2B protocol
- Chains: Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tezos, Flow, Immutable X, and others
- Key differentiator: Strong creator royalty tools; early governance token; Rarible Protocol for B2B
- Rarible Protocol: Open-source NFT marketplace infrastructure — other projects build on it
- RARI token: Launched mid-2020, one of first marketplace governance tokens; rewarded buyers + sellers
- vs OpenSea: Rarible = multi-chain + governance token + creator-focused; OpenSea = dominant volume + centralised
- vs Blur: Blur = trader-focused + pro rewards; Rarible = creator-focused + multi-chain
- vs LooksRare: Both tried to out-community OpenSea; LooksRare used vampire attack; Rarible used organic growth + token
- Challenge: Volume share lost to Blur (ETH) and Magic Eden (SOL); NFT bear market
- India tax: VDA — 30% gains tax + 1% TDS