OpenSea, a decentralized exchange for buying, selling, and trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs) recently posted record sales.
OpenSea: The World’s NFT Marketplace
OpenSea bills itself as the world’s largest marketplace for digital goods, so now even casual observers of NFT and cryptocurrency news are taking notice. With the recent explosion in NFTs such as CryptoPunks, it’s worth taking a closer look at OpenSea and what it brings to trading NFTs.
Data Point: Fungible tokens and NFTs differ in that they have distinct characteristics and identifiers and are not interchangeable. NFTs can also be thought of as representing things rather than currencies. And yes, CrypoKitties are a thing, with some of them selling for more than $300,000.
After seeing CryptoKitties in action, founders Alex Atallah and Devin Finzer decided the ecosystem was ready for an NFT marketplace, and so OpenSea was founded in January 2018.
Big name investors in NFTs
Since then, both OpenSea and NFTs in general have grown significantly. Some big-name investors, including Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Conor McGregor, have recently expressed interest in the sector.
According to recent reports, the monthly trading volume of the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has now surpassed $1 billion.
In the past two months, OpenSea’s trading volume increased 286 percent, and it has carried the majority of NFT monthly trading volume since May of this year. OpenSea has already sailed past $1.23 billion in volume this past month (July), while the overall market has seen $1.27 billion.
NFT interest and sales: a direct correlation
The exchange’s all-time high trading volume also dovetails with all-time high search interest on Google, as previously reported. In other words, for the first time ever, search interest in “OpenSea” is at an all-time high. And this isn’t to be confused with yachting.
OpenSea, a New York-based firm founded in 2018, was valued at $1.5 billion at the end of July. They raised $100 million in their most recent Series B funding round and $23 million in its Series A, both of which were led by the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.
If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read: 4 NFT collections that are trending on OpenSea.io
Jay Speakman is a technology writer based in San Francisco, California. He writes on the topics of blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi and other disruptive technologies. Clients include Avalanche, Be[in]Crypto, Trust Machines and several blogs devoted to blockchain gaming. He will not rest until fiat currency is defeated.
