When nfts grew in 2021, an nft marketplace was king. Now that another nft boom is here, could that same market return to the top of the mountain? We are talking, of course, about the OpenSea nft Marketplace.
OpenSea has played a major role in bringing nfts into mainstream consciousness and was (and for many still is) the nft marketplace of choice for millions of nft traders around the world. Today, it faces more competition than ever, and with nfts on the rise once again, OpenSea has a lot of ground to gain to get back on top.
Here is our complete guide to 2025 <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/opensea” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Open sea.
Key information
- Created by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah
- It debuted in December 2017.
- The world's largest nft marketplace during the 2021 nft boom
- Facilitated over $39.5 billion in nft transactions (as of December 2024)
- Currently the third most popular nft marketplace, after Magic Eden and Blur (as of December 2024)
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77759 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide – Home Page” width=”800″ height=”448″/><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77759 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide – Home Page” width=”800″ height=”448″ srcset=”https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage.webp 800w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage-300×168.webp 300w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage-768×430.webp 768w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage-370×207.webp 370w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage-760×426.webp 760w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-1-homepage-270×152.webp 270w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>
What is OpenSea?
OpenSea is an nft marketplace that supports ethereum-based blockchains. With OpenSea, users can create, buy, and sell a wide variety of nfts, including digital art, collectibles, virtual land, and more.
Created by <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/dfinzer” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Devin Finzer and <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/xanderatallah” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Alex AtallahOpenSea took advantage of the growing interest in nfts in the second half of the 2010s to become the world's number one nft marketplace when nfts had their first boom in 2021.
With OpenSea, users can make many types of nft transactions, including:
- Primary sales: the debut sale of a new nft, via the OpenSea launchpad
- Secondary sales: existing nfts that are listed at a fixed price by their owner
- nft Auctions – nft holders can hold an auction of the assets they wish to sell
- nft Offers: Potential nft buyers can propose a price to purchase an nft, even if it is not for sale
OpenSea uses highly developed smart contracts to ensure transactions are seamless, secure and transparent. Users can connect many of the most popular software wallets to the platform, including MetaMask, <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/CoinbaseWallet” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Coinbase Wallet and more, to view and interact with nfts throughout the site.
The OpenSea nft marketplace is known as a go-to place for trading the largest nft collections, including CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pudgy Penguins, and more. OpenSea also supports many smaller collections and projects, making it a nice platform for both nft creators and collectors.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77760 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide: Launchpad” width=”800″ height=”448″/><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77760 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide: Launchpad” width=”800″ height=”448″ srcset=”https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad.webp 800w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad-300×168.webp 300w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad-768×430.webp 768w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad-370×207.webp 370w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad-760×426.webp 760w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-2-launchpad-270×152.webp 270w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>
The history of OpenSea
OpenSea started with the success of <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/CryptoKitties” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Cryptokitties – a blockchain game developed by <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/dapperlabs” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Elegant laboratories which debuted in 2017. With their success, Finzer and Atallah recognized the potential of nfts, so they set out to build an nft marketplace that could support these fast-growing assets.
The OpenSea nft marketplace launched in December 2017 and quickly gained a following thanks to its user-friendly design – one of the first nft marketplaces that was designed from the ground up to be as accessible as possible to beginners.
OpenSea quickly grew to become the number one nft marketplace, even though trading volumes were quite modest to begin with. This changed in 2021, when the nft explosion saw trading volumes reach billions of dollars in just a few months, placing OpenSea at the very heart of the nft industry.
OpenSea built on this success in successive rounds of financing. They raised $100 million in July 2021 and another $300 million in January 2022, bringing OpenSea's valuation to a whopping $13.3 billion.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77761 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide – Website” width=”800″ height=”448″/><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77761 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide – Website” width=”800″ height=”448″ srcset=”https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website.webp 800w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website-300×168.webp 300w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website-768×430.webp 768w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website-370×207.webp 370w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website-760×426.webp 760w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-3-website-270×152.webp 270w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>
In mid-2022, nfts saw a decline in popular interest. Despite this, OpenSea used the funds generated over the past 12 months to expand. In April 2022, OpenSea acquired the merchant-focused nft marketplace Gem and relaunched it as <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/openseapro” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>OpenSeaPro in April 2023.
OpenSea faced its first major competitor in October 2022, with the debut of the nft marketplace. <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/blur_io” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Blur. OpenSea quickly saw Blur take its crown as the number one nft marketplace, with its detail-focused UI and an upcoming token launch enticing many users to switch.
2023 and 2024 have seen new challenges for OpenSea, with the rise in popularity of nfts on Solana (a blockchain that OpenSea does not support) helping Magic Eden become the world's number one new nft marketplace.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77762 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Marketplace Guide: Non-Fungible Tokens” width=”800″ height=”448″/><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77762 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Marketplace Guide: Non-Fungible Tokens” width=”800″ height=”448″ srcset=”https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens.webp 800w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens-300×168.webp 300w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens-768×430.webp 768w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens-370×207.webp 370w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens-760×426.webp 760w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-4-non-fungible-tokens-270×152.webp 270w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>
For all its success, OpenSea has also gone through a number of controversies. In its early days, OpenSea had difficulty detecting and preventing sales of nfts with plagiarized or outright stolen works of art. Fortunately, numerous security developments and platform updates over the years have helped greatly mitigate both problems.
OpenSea has also received criticism for its back-and-forth stance on supporting creator royalties. Their wavering stance on this issue was one of the main reasons behind the rise in popularity of rival nft marketplaces such as Blur and Magic Eden.
As we head into 2025, OpenSea is considered by many to be the third most popular nft marketplace, behind Magic Eden and Blur. However, with nft interest rising again, there is plenty of opportunity for the order to shift again over the next year.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77763 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide: Digital Collectibles” width=”800″ height=”448″/><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77763 lazyload" src="https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles.webp” alt=”OpenSea nft Market Guide: Digital Collectibles” width=”800″ height=”448″ srcset=”https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles.webp 800w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles-300×168.webp 300w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles-768×430.webp 768w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles-370×207.webp 370w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles-760×426.webp 760w, https://nftplazas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/opensea-nft-marketplace-guide-5-digital-collectibles-270×152.webp 270w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>
What's next for OpenSea?
OpenSea is in an interesting position today.
In recent months, rumors have circulated that OpenSea is finally preparing to introduce its own token. This would allow it to catch up with its rivals: two of the largest, Blur and Magic Eden, have already launched their ecosystem tokens on $BLUR and $ME.
In November 2024, OpenSea previewed a revamp of its entire nft marketplace experience, with this new site arriving in December 2024. For those with access to private testing, the response has been positive, but it remains to be seen if this can transform the OpenSea experience. fortunes and bring them back to the top of the nft industry.
In the nft boom of 2021, OpenSea was in the right place at the right time to capitalize. This time, OpenSea starts the race a few lengths behind. However, with its history and experience (and, of course, with the revamped marketplace experience on the way), 2025 could see massive changes to the sites we use to buy, sell, and trade nfts once again.
