While NFTs are booming in 2021, one NFT market is dominating. Now that another NFT craze has arrived, can the same market return to the top of the mountain? Of course, we are talking about OpenSea NFT Marketplace.
OpenSea played a major role in bringing NFTs into mainstream consciousness and remains, for many, the NFT marketplace of choice for millions of NFT traders around the world. Today, it faces more competition than ever before, and with NFTs on the rise again, OpenSea has a lot of progress to make to get back to the top.
Here’s our complete guide to OpenSea 2025.
Key insights
- Created by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah
- Debuted in December 2017
- The world’s largest NFT market during the 2021 NFT craze
- Facilitated over $39.5 billion in NFT transactions (as of December 2024)
- Currently the third most popular NFT market, behind Magic Eden and Blur (as of December 2024)
What is the open sea?
OpenSea is an NFT marketplace that supports the Ethereum-based blockchain. Through OpenSea, users can create, buy and sell various NFTs, including digital artworks, collectibles, virtual lands, etc.
OpenSea, founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, capitalized on the growing interest in NFTs in the second half of the 2010s and became the world’s number one NFT marketplace when NFTs first boomed in 2021.
Through OpenSea, users can perform various types of NFT transactions, including:
- Main sales: First sale of new NFT via OpenSea launchpad
- Secondary Sale: An existing NFT listed by the holder at a set price
- NFT auction: NFT holders can auction the assets they want to sell
- NFT Offer: Potential NFT buyers can offer a price to purchase the NFT, even if it is not listed for sale
OpenSea uses highly developed smart contracts to ensure smooth, secure and transparent transactions. Users can connect many of the most popular software wallets to the platform, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and more, to view and interact with NFTs throughout the site.
The OpenSea NFT Marketplace is known as the premier place to trade the largest collection of NFTs, including CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pudgy Penguins, and more. OpenSea also supports many smaller collections and projects, making it a satisfying platform for both NFT creators and NFT collectors.
Open sea history
OpenSea began with the success of CryptoKitties, a blockchain game developed by Dapper Labs and first launched in 2017. To support these rapidly growing NFT markets.
The OpenSea NFT marketplace launched in December 2017 and quickly attracted a following for its user-friendly design – it was one of the first NFT marketplaces and was designed from the ground up to be as user-friendly as possible for beginners.
OpenSea quickly rose to become the number one NFT marketplace, although transaction volume was quite limited at first. That changed in 2021, with NFTs exploding and transaction volume reaching billions of dollars in just a few months, placing OpenSea at the heart of the NFT industry.
OpenSea has capitalized on this success in successive funding rounds. They raised $100 million in July 2021 and $300 million in January 2022, which brought OpenSea’s valuation to an incredible $13.3 billion.
In mid-2022, the popularity of NFTs declined. Nonetheless, OpenSea used the funds generated over the past 12 months to expand. In April 2022, OpenSea acquired Gem, a trader-focused NFT marketplace, and relaunched it as OpenSea Pro in April 2023.
OpenSea encountered its first major competitor in October 2022 with the debut of NFT marketplace Blur. OpenSea quickly saw Blur become the number one NFT marketplace, with its detail-oriented user interface and upcoming token launch attracting many users to convert.
In 2023 and 2024, OpenSea will face further challenges, as the popularity of NFTs on Solana (a blockchain not supported by OpenSea) will help Magic Eden rise to become the new number one NFT market in the world.
Despite its great success, OpenSea has encountered some controversy. Since its inception, OpenSea has worked hard to detect and block the sale of NFTs with plagiarized or outright stolen art. Thankfully, numerous security developments and platform updates over the years have helped mitigate both of these issues to a large extent.
OpenSea has also faced backlash for its back-and-forth stance on supporting creator royalties. Their vacillating stance on the topic is one of the main reasons for the rise in popularity of rival NFT markets like Blur and Magic Eden.
Going into 2025, many believe that OpenSea is the third most popular NFT marketplace, behind Magic Eden and Blur. However, as interest in NFTs heats up again, there will be many opportunities for the order to change again in the coming year.
What’s next for OpenSea?
Today, OpenSea finds itself in an interesting position.
In recent months, there have been rumors that OpenSea is finally preparing to launch its own token. This will allow it to catch up with its competitors – two of the largest, Blur and Magic Eden, have already launched their own ecosystem tokens in $BLUR and $ME.
In November 2024, OpenSea announced a revamp of its entire NFT market experience, and the new website will be launched in December 2024. The experience remains to be seen.
Amid the 2021 NFT craze, OpenSea was in the right place at the right time to capitalize. This time, OpenSea started the race a few horses behind. However, based on their history and experience—and of course the impending improvements to the market experience—the sites we use to buy, sell, and trade NFTs may once again change dramatically by 2025.
