- NFT marketplace OpenSea lays out strategies to reclaim its place at the top as it sets for a revamp in December to introduce Bitcoin Ordinals support.
- OpenSea has been struggling lately from declining sales volume to stiff competition as well as regulatory challenges.
Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has announced that it will embark on a significant revamp to reclaim its leading position from competitors – Blur and Magic Eden. According to a teaser video analyzed by CNF, this development has been scheduled for December.
A new OpenSea is coming. December 2024.https://t.co/boxnb1CiYi pic.twitter.com/hIQ1dSpA41— OpenSea (@opensea) November 4, 2024
Speaking on this, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer explained that the team has been quietly “cooking at the marketplace,” and this initiative would introduce a completely new platform.
We’ve been quietly cooking at OpenSea. To innovate, sometimes you have to take a step back and reimagine everything, so we built a new OpenSea from the ground up. Sails up in December.
Adding to this, co-founder of OpenSea Pro Vaibhav “Vasa” Saini hinted on Discord that the revamp would witness the introduction of several new “items,” including the Bitcoin Ordinals support. “Digging” further, we discovered that the OpenSea 2.0 would have a leaderboard and introduce rewards to users who prove their commitment by holding Gemesis NFTs.
Meanwhile, users speculate that the team may be developing an Ethereum Layer 2 chain as part of the effort to subject the cost to drastic reduction and the platform to significant speed. This groundbreaking initiative comes at a time when OpenSea, the then-largest NFT marketplace, faces regulatory challenges, declining volume, and stiff competition.
The Struggling Nature of OpenSea
According to CryptoSlam, the marketplace had a total monthly sales volume of $6 billion in January 2022. However, it was just around $430 million as of July 2024. Data from Dune Analytics also shows that its NFT sales in April only saw a total of $97 million. Sales volume has declined by 99% to reach a historic low from the May 2022 peak when the market was recording 66k ETH per day.
Within the same period, Blur contributed 78% of all NFT transactions against 21% from OpenSea. In April, the number of active users also declined by 8% to 74,113 from the 80,727 active users recorded in March.
To “save” the situation, OpenSea took the initiative to cut its transaction fee to zero in April. However, Blur continued to hold more than 70% of Ethereum’s daily NFT trading volume.
Amid the backdrop of its declining activities, the company disclosed in August that it has received a Wells Notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As we earlier reported, the letter stated that the NFTs sold on the OpenSea platforms are securities. Meanwhile, Finzer responded that this move would stifle innovation. In a post, the CEO pledged $5 million to cover legal fees for NFT creators and developers who receive such notice.
OpenSea has received a Wells notice from the SEC threatening to sue us because they believe NFTs on our platform are securities. We’re shocked the SEC would make such a sweeping move against creators and artists. But we’re ready to stand up and fight.