OpenSea: The Biggest NFT Marketplace Explained (2024)

In crypto, NFTs are a relatively new and volatile asset class representing anything from digital artwork to in-game items to real-world assets. In recent years, NFTs have gained significant attention as they represent ownership and proof of authenticity of unique items.

These NFT assets include digital art, virtual real estate, collectibles, music, game items, pictures, and videos. They provide a medium for artists and creators to showcase their digital artwork while earning money by selling them.

This article will explore the giant NFT marketplace, explaining OpenSea and breaking down how it works, how to buy, create, and sell, and so much more.

NFT Marketplaces and Working Mechanism

NFT marketplaces are digital platforms that facilitate the buying and selling of NFTs. The NFT creators can display their NFT collection and earn cryptocurrencies when people buy.Some NFT marketplaces allow creators to mint NFTs over their platforms.

They only receive transaction fees from transferring the NFTs from one party to the other. All NFT marketplaces function differently, meaning they have different specific features and sets of rules on their operation module, their permitted payment options, types of NFTs, and fees.

To use an NFT Marketplace, users must create an account on the platform; then, they can browse through all the available listings for sale. On some Marketplace, you can buy NFTs at a fixed price or bid for the NFT item in an auction.

What is OpenSea?

OpenSea is the first, largest, and most famous online marketplace for creating, buying, and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It was founded in 2017 by Alex Atallah and Devin Finzer and has its headquarters in New York.

OpenSea operates on the Ethereum blockchain, extensively using Ethereum’s ERC-7221 and ERC-1155 Standards for NFTs. Before the inception of OpenSea, there was no platform where users could display, buy, or sell NFTs or trade crypto collectibles.

OpenSea was created as a solution to this problem.NFTs grew in popularity, with broader categories being recognized.

OpenSea had to open its doors to accommodate this more comprehensive array of NFTs. This move ensured that OpenSea could welcome an ever-growing audience. Now, OpenSea supports various NFT categories ranging from music, art, virtual lands, sports assets, avatars, trading cards, and domain names.

What Mechanism Does OpenSea Operate on?

OpenSea was built on the Wyvern protocol. The Wyvern Protocol is an open-source framework that facilitates the decentralized exchange of virtual assets.

The protocol is implemented through smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain to ensure that transaction processing is smooth and secure.

OpenSea is also working to make buying and selling digital items on blockchains other than Ethereum easier.It has added support for blockchains like Solana, Polygon, and Klaytn, so users can also use them.

In June 2022, OpenSea announced its plans to create its protocol to improve the platform.

How OpenSea Works?

OpenSea functions much like eBay or Etsy, except that it is decentralized and only deals with NFTs. On both the desktop and mobile dashboards, there are two prompts, one to explore NFTs and the other to create a new crypto wallet. You can see over 2 million NFT collections and create yours.

To explore the collections, you can easily pick out the most trending collections in each category. The search query can be narrowed by 24 hours, seven days, 30 days, and all-time. You could prefer to explore only a particular blockchain to make it easier.

The Explore page allows users to browse the vast collections of NFTs on the platform. The page is filled up with animated logos and distinct static logos.On the “Stats” page, you can search for NFTs with more analytics features.

You can search for NFTs using search filters like Volume, Time, Category, and Blockchain tabs. Transactions are processed through self-executing smart contracts to ensure a fair and secure exchange.

To cover operational costs on the platform, OpenSea takes 2.5% as a fee from all secondary sales.

Due to high transaction fees on the Ethereum network, OpenSea integrated the polygon Blockchain to facilitate quicker and more cost-effective transactions. You can easily transition between the Polygon and Ethereum Network through a single click.

How To Get Started?

OpenSea has a very user-friendly interface, making navigation and usage easy. To initiate a transaction, connect a crypto wallet to OpenSea.

You will need the wallet to interact with the blockchain to make or receive payments. OpenSea is non-custodial. Therefore, they don’t store your NFTs in the platform but in your wallet address.

After setting up the wallet, fund it and create an OpenSea account by clicking on the “Connect Wallet” tab in the Menu section.The primary currency used for NFT trading on OpenSea is Ethereum; however, wrapped Ether (wETH) serves in smart contracts to facilitate smoother integration.

Aside from Ethereum and wrapped Ether, over 150 other crypto tokens are accepted.Once you have set up, you can explore the NFT categories, and filters and options can also aid this.

When you click on the NFT’s thumbnail, detailed information about the NFT item, its creator, and the price will appear.

Click “Buy Now” or “Place Bid,” depending on the listing type. It could be a fixed-price sale or an auction sale. Buyers have to pay gas fees when buying a fixed-price NFT, whereas sellers pay gas fees when buying through an auction.

This Gas is 2.5% of the NFT price. Users must confirm the transaction via their wallet to complete the process.

NFT Collections

Once a user selects an NFT collection, a new page appears, showing more information about the NFT collection, its creator name, the number of listings in the collection, the number of owners of the collection, floor price, best offer, and total trading volume.

On this page, social media links are also integrated. To browse the collections, you can scroll through the “Items” section or the activity section to get insight into listings, offers, sales, collection offers, and transfers.

Four “Items page” filters help users narrow their search to find the best choice. These filters include “Buy Now,” “Has Offers, “On Auction,” and “New.”

The Buy Now filter

This filter lists all the NFTs that are available for sale. It distinguishes between items already purchased, those available for sale, and those on sale.

The Offers

The Has Offers filter displays all the NFTs with the latest offers.

The Auction Filter

You can find the NFTs on Auction through this filter and their corresponding bids.

The New filter

The New filter lists all the newly added NFTs, making distinguishing between the old listings easier.

Minting NFT on OpenSea

Minting NFTs is straightforward on OpenSea; the process requires users to;

1. Click on the “Create” section on their profile
2. Create a listing
3. Upload visuals and details
4. Customize the URL
5. Set a price or auction parameters
6. Confirm the transaction
7. Mint the NFT

To remove a listing, click “Cancel Listing,” which can be found at the top right of the Item’s page.

Significance of OpenSea in the NFT and Blockchain Space

As a leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea has generated over $100 million in fees from the famous Yuga collections, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), and Mutant Apes. There has been exponential growth in OpenSea in recent times arising from the popularity of NFTs.

This growth highlights the increasing demand for NFTs and the growing popularity of digital art and collectibles in the blockchain sector.The success shows that NFTs have the potential to create new opportunities for artists, collectors, and investors.

Features of OpenSea

Certain features help OpenSea maintain its popularity; some of these features include reduced gas fees,

1. Minting functionality: Digital creators can have ownership rights over their digital creations.
2. Transparent transactions: due to its self-executing smart contracts, there are no intermediaries to transactions making it transparent.
3. Multi-blockchain support: OpenSea is integrated with various blockchains that improve its accessibility.
4. Personalized storefronts: Creators can customize their storefronts to increase the visibility of their NFT collections and enhance branding.
5. Educational resources: Educational support on certain utilities on the platform is provided so users can make better choices.
6. Community engagement: on OpenSea, you can comment, follow, and explore trending collections.
7. Continuous Innovation: OpenSea is constantly undergoing advancements, new features, enhancements, and integrations to ensure the best performance.
8. Inclusivity: The OpenSea platform supports multiple languages and diverse content, promoting inclusivity.

OpenSea Market Trends and Growth

As of June 2022, over 2.1 million users have purchased something through OpenSea. Businesses in the marketplace have comparatively volatile revenues and volumes. In the same year, OpenSea started experiencing some challenges, such as;

1. A drop in transaction volume of all its cryptocurrency assets, which include NFTs.
2. Solana-based NFTs and MagicEden arose and captured about 99% of the Solana NFT market shares.
3. There was a vampire attack on OpenSea by LooksRare, a close competitor. A vampire attack is when a duplicate protocol offers identical but more enticing incentives to attract investors.

In response to the decline in OpenSea’s trading volumes and increased completion, it launched its platform, Launchpad, within the Solana ecosystem.

It is also simultaneously improving its security and verification mechanisms. OpenSea can bounce back once the NFT market rebounds to its former levels.

When and if this bounce back will happen is a very tough call, and you’ll likely have more fun spending your hard earned digital currency at a UK crypto casino than investing in NFTs. It would certainly be more fun.

How to Buy NFTs on the OpenSea Platform?

To buy NFTs on OpenSea, your wallet has to be funded with Ethereum (ETH) and converted to Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).Explore the collection with the several filters available, find the NFT you like, and choose “Buy Now” or click on the “Make Offer” tab to propose a bargaining price.

When the page opens, you must sign the transaction to complete your transaction. Upon successful transaction, you will receive your NFT in your wallet, where you can view all of your NFTs in the “My Collections” tab.

Creating NFTs on OpenSea

The process of creating an NFT on OpenSea is straightforward. You need to figure out the purpose and genre of your collection and set up your crypto wallet. The following action is to choose a blockchain, create a collection, and mint or release your NFTs.

How to Sell NFTs on OpenSea?

On OpenSea, NFT collections can be sold by the creator and the owner. Creators and collectors can sell in two main ways: fixed price sale and auction. When it’s an NFT with a fixed price, the buyer pays the gas fee while the seller pays the gas fees in the case of an auction.

There are two choices to list your NFTs for sale on OpenSea. You can select a single item or create a bundle of different NFTs.

1. Go to your profile icon.
2. Select the NFTs you want to sell from your wallet.
3. Find the Sell option at the top right and click on it.
4. You will be taken to the listings page where you can set the price and type of sale you prefer, either fixed-price or timed-auction sales.

The Verdict – Is OpenSea Worth the Hype?

OpenSea is the largest and most famous marketplace for buying and selling NFTs, which operates Primarily on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created to solve a problem for NFT owners, who needed a platform to display their collections and gain visibility.

The platform operates like eBay or Etsy but with a focus on decentralization and focus on NFTs. It currently provides you with over 2 million NFT collections, and you can also create yours.

OpenSea supports a broad category of NFTs, including music, art, virtual lands, avatars, and others, making it a welcoming platform for all NFT creators and collectors.

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