OpenSea, once a prominent NFT marketplace and ardent supporter of Ethereum’s ERC-721 protocol, has made a significant shift by embracing a multi-blockchain approach. In a bid to recover from a staggering 98% decline in trading volumes, the platform has announced plans to conduct an Initial Coin Offering (ICO)-style airdrop of its new SEA tokens.
Furthermore, OpenSea is revamping its website and enhancing support for over a dozen blockchains. The exchange is also introducing cross-blockchain NFT purchases, enabling users to buy NFTs from different blockchains using various payment methods. To attract more users, OpenSea is reducing marketplace fees to 0.5% and eliminating swap fees for its OS2 Open Beta.
At its peak, OpenSea achieved unicorn status with trading activity reaching $476 million on May 1, 2022, fueled by the launch of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherdeed metaverse land. However, current trading volumes have plummeted by 98% since then, struggling to surpass single-digit million figures.
Three years since the glory days
The decline in OpenSea’s performance over the past years is evident across various metrics. Monthly NFT sales, which exceeded 5 million in January 2022, have now dropped by 80% as of January 2025. Similarly, royalty fees have dwindled from $268 million to under $4 million last month.
In an effort to bounce back, OpenSea has undergone restructuring, including a significant reduction of its workforce following a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2024. The notice raised concerns about potential unregistered securities on the platform.
Competition from other NFT marketplaces like Blur and Magic Eden has also posed challenges for OpenSea. Magic Eden, in particular, experienced success by expanding its supported blockchains beyond just Polygon, which may have influenced OpenSea’s decision to embrace multiple blockchains in its new iteration.
Despite the platform’s efforts to adapt, the overall decline in NFT popularity has been a significant hurdle for OpenSea. With a preference for fungible memecoins over non-fungible media among traders, the platform’s relaunch and token offering may struggle to reverse this global trend.