Why OpenSea is the most popular NFT marketplace?

Key points

• OpenSea is the leading marketplace for trading non-fungible tokens (NFT), launched in 2017 in New York.
• Its key advantages include multi-chain support, a royalties programme for NFT creators, and the ability to mint non-fungible tokens for free using the Polygon network.
• OpenSea hosts popular NFT collections and various types of digital art, from illustrations by well-known figures and meme-makers to virtual land in metaverses.

Who launched the platform, and when?

The NFT marketplace was founded by Devin Finzer (now CEO) and Alex Atallah. In early 2022, Forbes named them the first dollar billionaires of the NFT industry, putting their combined net worth at $2.2bn.

The startup was founded in 2017; the site’s beta version launched the same year. In 2018 the project received its first investment from the Y Combinator incubator. The OpenSea team was inspired by the success of the NFT game CryptoKitties, which at the time accounted for the lion’s share of all transactions on the Ethereum network.

True popularity arrived in 2021 with the NFT boom. The team drew in high-profile collections including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Axie Infinity and Decentraland. Within a year, trading volume on the marketplace grew more than 640-fold to $14.6bn, and OpenSea’s share of overall NFT trading exceeded 90%.

In spring 2021, OpenSea raised $23m in a Series A round, and in
July it closed a $100m Series B led by the venture fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). At the end of 2021 the team conducted another funding round, initially targeting a $10bn valuation; the project was ultimately priced higher, at $13.3bn.

In early 2022, OpenSea appeared in the Forbes Fintech 50, and TIME named the marketplace among the 100 most influential companies in the world.

How does OpenSea work?

At the project’s outset, the team billed the platform as an eBay-like online shop for NFTs. Today OpenSea is the largest marketplace for buying, selling and creating collections of non-fungible tokens.

The platform’s NFT-creation infrastructure suits both beginners and advanced users. To create and list your own NFT on OpenSea without coding skills, read our guide.

To open an account, connect one of 16 supported crypto wallets: MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect, Fortmatic, Phantom, and so on.

On OpenSea’s homepage you will find statistics on NFTs and various categories: art, collectibles, domain names, music, photography, virtual land, in-game assets, memes and much more.

Why is OpenSea so popular?

The platform has several advantages that make it attractive and popular with users.

One major plus is support for multiple blockchains: Polygon, Klaytn and Solana. The developers plan to add Flow and Tezos, both popular in the NFT space.

Another advantage is that OpenSea users can mint NFTs for free using the Polygon network, avoiding gas fees on Ethereum.

A further advantage is that an NFT creator can enable royalties and receive up to 10% of the token’s price from each subsequent sale after the initial purchase.

How to buy an NFT on OpenSea?

Open the OpenSea homepage and go to Explore to browse the works listed on the platform. Collections are grouped by category. The most popular lately appear under Trending.

The menu on the left side of the page lets you filter by status, price range, quantity, blockchain, category and other parameters.

The NFT Status filter offers a choice between new non-fungible tokens (New), those on auction (On Auction) or those offered at a fixed price (Buy Now).

Click any image to see details about the NFT. On the next page you can buy immediately by clicking Buy now, or propose your own price via Make offer.

What is the project criticised for?

In early 2022 the platform capped free minting at no more than five collections of 50 NFTs each. It reversed the change within a day after numerous complaints.

The platform’s administrators explained the limits by saying that 80% of the works listed on the platform were plagiarised versions of well-known collections or fakes.

After some time, OpenSea introduced measures to combat fraud and plagiarism. According to the team’s plan, this should reduce violations of intellectual-property rights.

How did the crypto winter affect OpenSea?

According to CoinGecko, 2022 was among the worst years in the history of the cryptocurrency market. The trend carried over to NFT trading.

Analysts at The Block calculated that in June 2022 overall NFT trading volume fell by 74%, to $1.04bn from $4bn in May 2021. The Dune analytics platform shows an even lower figure for the same period — just $0.5bn.

Even so, The Block’s data indicate that two-thirds of the total value of transactions went through OpenSea, keeping it the leading trading platform in its segment.

Amid the slump in activity, the team announced in July 2022 that it would cut 20% of staff.

What else to read?

What is an NFT?

How to mint an NFT: everything you need to know

What is CryptoPunks?

What is the ApeCoin (APE) cryptocurrency?

What are ERC-20 tokens?