Launched in January 2022, LooksRare was positioned as a community-first alternative to the dominant NFT marketplace, OpenSea. Its core mission is to empower and reward the NFT community through its native token, LOOKS. Users earn LOOKS tokens by trading NFTs on the platform, and token holders can stake their LOOKS to earn a share of the platform's trading fees. The project was founded by two pseudonymous co-founders, "Guts" and "Zodd," and emphasizes a decentralized governance model and a commitment to transparency and user benefits.