📖
Web3 Encyclopedia
  • Welcome aboard!
  • Source
  • 😀Evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 3.0
    • Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Web 3.0
    • Key Features
    • Current Limitations
    • Future of Web 3.0
    • Learn: What Is Web3?
    • Learn: Will Every Brand Have a Web3 Strategy?
    • Learn: Big Ideas in 2023
    • Learn: The Web3 Paradox: Why Scaling Usage Alone Won't Lead to Mass Adoption?
    • Learn: Is Web3 A Marketing Buzz or Tech Revolution?
    • Learn: What is the relationship between blockchain and Web3?
    • Learn:Empowering Women in Web 3.0: The Role and Contributions of Women in Blockchain, DeFi, and dApp
    • Learn: Web 3.0 and the Future of E-Commerce
    • Learn: 12 ways ecosystem projects can attract more developers
    • Learn: How Web3 is Impacting Education?
    • Learn: Web3 And The Future Of Digital Advertising
    • Learn: Web3’s impact on personalization, trust and engagement
    • Learn: Web3-Powered Identity Management -- Unlocking the Benefits of Decentralization
    • Learn: Why Web2 companies fail in Web3 while others made it?
    • Learn: To Identify or Not in a Web3 World?
    • 🤫[Insider Series] McKinsey x Web3
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 💲Blockchain Fundamentals
    • Why is Blockchain So Popular?
    • Introduction to Blockchain
    • Blockchain Misconceptions
    • Blockchain vs Bitcoin, Database, Cloud
    • Consensus Mechanism
    • Public and Private Keys
    • Hash Functions and Cryptography
    • Sharding
    • Types of Blockchains: PoW, PoS and Private
    • Understanding Cryptocurrency
    • Coins vs Tokens
    • Blockchain Trilemma
    • Legality
    • Learn : Google’s Cloud Based Blockchain Node Service
    • Learn: How Blockchain, Digital assets, and Web3 Unlock Financial Inclusion Globally
    • Learn: Will Chinese-Made Crypto Soar Higher?
    • Learn: What Does MiCA Mean for Crypto in Europe?
    • Learn: Unraveling the Intricacies of Blockchain Forensics and Asset Tracking
    • Learn: Promising blockchain use cases in healthcare industry
    • Learn: The Role of Blockchain in Authenticating and Provenance Art
    • Learn: Blockchain-Based Digital Identity: Benefits, Risks, and Implementation Challenges
    • Learn: The Future of Energy Supply Chains
    • Learn: Revolutionizing smart contracts and cryptocurrency
    • Learn: Nigeria goes blockchain
    • Learn: A Game Changer for Online Gaming?
    • Learn: Is blockchain technology ready for high-storage applications?
    • Learn: Will Blockchain Technology Mark a Turning Point in Fraud Prevention?
    • Learn: Why ZK-rollups need data availability?
    • Learn: How will generative AI disrupt blockchain?
    • Learn: A New Blockchain for Generative AI?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 🏟️Web3 Utilities
    • Decentralized Applications (dApps)
    • Cross-chain Bridges
    • DAO
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Learn: Is Community-building Essential for Web3 Startups?
    • Learn: ‘Decentralization Theater’
    • Learn: Crypto and AI- A yay or nay combination?
    • Learn: Dissecting the DAO
    • Learn: What is motivating Lido DAO to rise?
    • Learn: How to Turn Your Community Into a DAO?
    • Learn: The Key to Decentralized Decision Making
    • Learn: How Web 3.0 can disrupt the supply chain industry?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 🪙Bitcoin
    • What is Bitcoin
    • Bitcoin's Blockchain Technology
    • UTXO Model and Transaction Fees
    • Bitcoin Mining and Mempool
    • Learn: What is bitcoin mining?
    • What are Hard Forks and Soft Forks
    • What is SegWit and the Lightning Network
    • Bitcoin Ecosystem
    • Can Bitcoin be Destroyed? Game Theory and Network Attacks
    • Learn: Crypto token supplies explained
    • Learn: What is crypto tax-loss harvesting, and how does it work?
    • Learn: Can Crypto Go Green? How to Invest in Eco-Friendly Cryptocurrencies
    • Learn: Why Did FTX Collapse? Here’s What to Know.
    • Learn: How Sam Bankman-Fried swindled $8 billion in customer money?
    • Learn: How much is Bitcoin worth today?
    • Learn: The Costs of Running a Bitcoin Node In Nigeria
    • Learn: Has 2022 Left Any Crypto Positives?
    • Learn: How Crypto Exchanges Can Be Free of Risk?
    • Learn: Greed, Lies and FTX: Is Crypto a Force for Good or Evil?
    • Learn: Is Crypto a Cultural Movement?
    • Learn: What are the consequences of crypto’s ongoing regulatory process?
    • Learn: Beyond the Crash and Embracing NFTs?
    • Learn: Understanding crypto bag holders and their mindset
    • Learn: Inscriptions: Just A Fad, Or A Real Threat To Bitcoin Becoming Decentralized Money?
    • Learn: How Bitcoin Ordinals Can Change the Future Of Mining?
    • Learn: What is a supernet?
    • Learn: Bitcoin Miners Celebrate 10 Years Since First ASIC, What Changed Since Then?
    • Learn: Bill Vs. CBDC – Why This US Congressman Wants To Block The Fed From Issuing A Digital Dollar?
    • Learn: Why Bitcoin Will Blow People’s Minds In 2025?
    • Learn: How the Howey Test Sheds Light on Cryptocurrency's Regulatory Gray Area
    • Learn: Cryptocurrency vs AI: A Complex Debate
    • Learn: Where the U.S. Government Went Wrong in Regulating Crypto?
    • Learn: The Nostr Privacy Paradox
    • Learn: Do algorithmic stablecoins have a future as centralized coins are under scrutiny?
    • Learn: Is Bitcoin Set To Revolutionize The Financial World With Its Superior Purchasing Power?
    • Learn: What is Shibarium, and what does it mean for Shiba Inu?
    • Learn: What is a crypto dusting attack?
    • Learn: Is the Adoption of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) the Future?
    • Learn: How Artificial Intelligence Could Revolutionize Crypto?
    • Learn: What’s next for EU’s crypto industry as European Parliament passes MiCA?
    • Learn: Why the EU Has MiCA and the U.S. Has Securities Law Confusion?
    • Learn: Six New Projects Looking to Mitigate Bitcoin Mining’s Energy Footprint
    • Learn: Who on Crypto Twitter chose not to pay for a blue checkmark?
    • Learn: What is the wash-sale rule in Crypto?
    • Learn: What is Pepecoin and can it flip memecoins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu?
    • Learn: Can you recover stolen Bitcoin from crypto scams?
    • Learn: What the ‘anti-mining bill’ means for the crypto industry in Texas?
    • Learn: Does the US have a crypto ‘tax loophole’ problem?
    • Learn: How users can stay protected?
    • Learn: How Crypto Revolutionize Cheaper and Faster Transactions?
    • Learn: Can NFTs and CFDs be BFFs?
    • Learn: A PR expert’s tips for memecoin projects
    • Learn: Why politicians aren't convinced about the Digital Euro?
    • Learn: How A 90-Year Old TA Theory Predicted The Sudden Bitcoin Boom?
    • Learn: Social Trading Platforms and CFDs: A New Paradigm in Investment
    • Learn: How could the Chinese economic crisis impact Bitcoin and crypto?
    • Learn: How do they compare: Bitcoin IRA vs. traditional IRA?
    • Learn: Why Tokenized Assets Are Safer During a Banking Crisis?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 🛢️Ethereum
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • What can Ethereum do?
    • What is Ether (ETH)?
    • What's Unique About ETH?
    • What are Smart Contracts?
    • Energy Consumption?
    • Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
    • Pros & Cons of Smart Contracts
    • Decentralized Applications (dApps)
    • Ethereum Token Standards (ERC-20, ERC-721 and ERC-1155)
    • Evolution of Ethereum
    • How to Get Your First Ethereum
    • Learn: Next Ethereum Upgrade — Shanghai Upgrade
    • Learn: Tipping Scale for Crypto Adoption: Usability vs. Accessibility
    • Learn: Major Publicly Traded U.S. Bitcoin Miner Files For Chapter 11 – Impact On The Market?
    • Learn: 5 altcoin projects that made a real difference in 2022
    • Learn: How Tether Can Be a More Stable Stablecoin?
    • Learn: Are the Ethereum Killers Still Deadly?
    • Learn: What Ethereum Tech Trends Are Weathering the Bear Market?
    • Learn: How Ethereum’s token burns are making it a deflationary cryptocurrency?
    • Learn: A few things to know about Ethereum's Shanghai Upgrade
    • Learn: The Role of Enterprise Ethereum
    • Learn: Understanding Layer 2 Scaling Solutions for the Ethereum Network
    • Learn: The Battle of Giants: Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Learn: Cryptography, Smart Contracts and Distributed Networks
    • Learn: The Memecoin Grift and How It Threatens Ethereum Culture
    • Learn: What Is Ethereum’s ‘Data Availability' Problem, and Why Does It Matter?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 👛Wallet
    • What is a Blockchain Wallet?
    • Hardware / Software Wallet
    • How to Get Your First Cryptocurrency
    • Setting up Metamask Wallet
    • Learn: How to connect the Avalanche network to MetaMask?
    • Learn: How to pass on your crypto when you die?
    • Learn: What are hierarchical deterministic (HD) crypto wallets?
    • Learn: Pros and Cons of Digital Wallets
    • Learn : How Web 3.0 Wallets Are Redefining Digital Asset Security?
    • Learn: Open source: Buzzword or real security for crypto wallets?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 🌕New & Rising Protocols
    • Binance
    • NEAR
    • Solana
    • Fantom
    • Polygon
    • Cardano
    • Polkadot
    • Cosmos
    • Harmony
    • Cronos
    • Optimism
    • Terra
    • Who Will Win the L1 Wars?
    • Learn: New Layer 1 Blockchains Are Expanding the DeFi Ecosystem But No Eth Killers Yet
    • Learn: Is an Increased Focus on Layer-2 Scaling and ZK Technology Justified?
    • Learn: What Are the Stakes in the SEC vs. Ripple Case?
    • Learn: What is The Graph, and how does it work?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 📈Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
    • CEX vs DEX
    • CeFi vs DeFi
    • Algorithmic Stablecoins
    • Airdrop
    • Liquidity Pool
    • Impermanent Loss
    • Swapping
    • Wrapped Token
    • Arbitrage Opportunities
    • Staking
    • Yield Farming
    • Total Value Locked (TVL)
    • Gas Fees
    • Lending & Borrowing
    • Useful Tools
    • Activity: Uniswap & Pancake Swap
    • Learn: Automated Market Makers (AMMs) in DeFi
    • Learn: Crypto Moving towards ESG: What Is Regenerative Finance (ReFi)
    • Learn: What Is dYdX? Understanding the Decentralized Crypto Exchange
    • Learn: It's A Wrap - DeFi in 2022
    • Learn: Why DeFi should expect more hacks this year?
    • Learn: The Security Challenges of DeFi
    • Learn: The Promising Future of Decentralized Social Media on Web 3.0
    • Learn: Can CBDCs, Tokenized Deposits, Stablecoins and DeFi Coexist?
    • Learn: The Increasing Popularity of DeFi and Its Potential to Disrupt Traditional Finance
    • Learn: The future of DeFi is ReFi
    • Learn: DeFi aggregation
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 🙈Non-Fungible Token (NFT)
    • What are NFTs?
    • Case Study
    • Storage
    • Who are the Players?
    • NFT Marketplace
    • NFT Useful Resources
    • Activity: Mint Your Own NFT
    • Learn: How You Can Prevent Hackers From Stealing Your NFTs?
    • Learn: What Is an NFT Floor Price?
    • Learn: Should Bored Ape buyers be legally entitled to refunds?
    • Learn: China’s view of NFTs different from rest of the world’s
    • Learn: NFTs IRL: How Digital Collectibles Are Forging Offline Experiences
    • Learn: How NFT Brands Can Cut Through The Noise
    • Learn: How Web3 disrupts the music sector?
    • Learn: Unlockable content in NFTs
    • Learn: Why Meta Matters in NFTs?
    • Learn: Should NFT Marketplaces Become Centralized?
    • Learn: Hermès vs. MetaBirkins: The NFT Case That Could Have Major Trademark and Artistic Consequence
    • Learn: What are phygital NFTs, and how do they work?
    • Learn: What is NFT ticketing and how does it work?
    • Learn: Why Solana NFT marketplace is seeing less active users?
    • Learn: NFTs and Intellectual Property
    • Learn: How AI Is Changing Artistic Creation and Challenging IP Laws?
    • Learn: The Future of NFTs: Exploring Dynamic NFTs and Their Versatile Use Cases
    • Learn: NFTs in the event and ticketing industry
    • Learn: What is NFT rarity, and how to calculate it?
    • Learn: What happens to your NFTs when you die?
    • Learn: Dogecoin-Like Spike in Milady NFTs After Elon Musk’s Tweet, But Will It Last?
    • Learn: What are NFT royalties, and how do they work?
    • Learn: How developers aim to store crypto inside NFTs?
    • Learn: Generative Art NFTs: What Are They & Why Are They So Popular?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 💗Metaverse
    • What is the Metaverse?
    • Metaverse Economy
    • Metaverse Companies
    • GameFi
    • Learn: Are We in the Metaverse Yet?
    • Learn: Can the Metaverse exist without blockchain?
    • Learn: Can the Metaverse Facilitate Sustainable Growth of Defi Systems?
    • Learn: What is the role of biometrics in the metaverse?
    • Learn: Can metaverse be the future court?
    • Learn: Metaverse Fashion Is on the Rise, but for Whom?
    • Learn: Sustainability in the Metaverse: Challenges and Opportunities
    • Learn: How To Build A Responsible Metaverse?
    • Learn: What is a VTuber, and how do you become one?
    • Learn: How proof-of-identity provides human experiences?
    • Learn: The “Metaverse” Next Frontier for Business: Impact And Challenges
    • Learn: The 5 Biggest Misconceptions About The Metaverse
    • Learn: Why culture and ownership are critical to the metaverse?
    • TL;DR 👀
  • 👾Career in Web3 (coming soon)
    • Developers
    • Moderators
    • Community Managers
    • UI/ UX Designers
    • Digital Fashion Designers
  • 🌱Sustainability (Coming Soon)
    • Industry Effort
    • Co-author
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  • OpenSea is the world’s largest open marketplace for NFTs.
  • What is OpenSea?
  • How OpenSea works
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • What does the future hold for OpenSea?
  • Other NFT marketplaces
  1. Non-Fungible Token (NFT)

NFT Marketplace

PreviousWho are the Players?NextNFT Useful Resources

Last updated 2 years ago

OpenSea is the world’s largest open marketplace for NFTs.

In order to browse, buy, sell or create your own NFT, you have to visit an NFT marketplace, and the biggest one around is OpenSea. The NFT marketplace had a cumulative trading volume of $12.5 billion through 2021, nearly 88% of total NFT trading volume that year, .

Some of the most notable NFT collections on OpenSea are Bored Ape Yacht Club, and . We’ll take a closer look at what OpenSea is and how NFT marketplaces work.

What is OpenSea?

OpenSea is a marketplace similar to eBay, Etsy and Amazon, except all the listed items are unique digital collectibles in the form of NFTs that users can buy, sell and mint. The platform is a decentralized, peer-to-peer exchange that enables users to transact with one another directly in a manner.

OpenSea was founded in 2017 by software engineers Alex Atallah and Devin Finzer, who became fascinated by the launch of the popular NFT series CryptoKitties and saw potential in NFTs to enable true ownership of digital items for the first time.

Digital artists and content creators can use the platform to mint NFTs, create custom marketplaces and NFT collections, set fees on their tokens and create auctions to sell them.

How OpenSea works

OpenSea’s marketplace is non-custodial, meaning that no central party has control of the transactions on the platform. Instead, transactions are facilitated by self-executing smart contracts that guarantee fair trade. Transactions on OpenSea either happen as a whole (the buyer gets the NFT and the seller gets paid) or not at all. These are known as atomic transactions.

As OpenSea is a peer-to-peer marketplace, there’s technically no intermediary between buyer and seller. Still, the platform takes a of every transaction. Competitors’ costs range from none to 15%.

OpenSea’s architecture is powered by the Wyvern Protocol, which is a set of smart contracts on the blockchain, designed to facilitate buying and trading unique digital assets. The platform offers across Ethereum, and Klatyn.

Strengths

One of the main advantages for creators is that they can mint NFTs for free using Opensea’s Polygon-based . Opting for the gas-free marketplace means that creators won’t have to pay the transaction fees, also known as gas fees, on the Ethereum network. Another advantage is that the original creator of an NFT can arrange to receive a royalty payment for every secondary-market sale of the token in perpetuity.

Buyers can easily browse through NFT collections, being able to filter by price, status, native blockchain and rarity of each token. Depending on the type of auction, buyers can place a bid, make an offer or opt to buy immediately and pay the asking price of the NFT. Buyers can also see the purchasing history of each NFT, including how many times it was sold, who bought it, and its prices.

OpenSea supports more than a dozen , with MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet the most popular.

Weaknesses

What does the future hold for OpenSea?

Other NFT marketplaces

Source

2)

One of the main concerns of OpenSea is that because it uses the Ethereum blockchain there may be high gas fees during peak network congestion. OpenSea is in fact the top on the Ethereum network. To address this problem, and created a gas-free marketplace. Ethereum is also trying to solve this issue by transitioning to — a cheaper, more energy-efficient proof-of-stake-based iteration of the protocol.

Another concern is related to the platform’s performance. As per , the website and API often run with degraded performance. OpenSea has also suffered a , as well as continued database issues, elevated API errors, and delayed response times. In response to these performance issues, the company began releasing a monthly which outlines the past month’s issues and what steps are being taken to resolve them.

Customers have suffered losses from improper use of OpenSea. In Sept. 2021, . The executive was using secret crypto wallets to buy NFT drops before they were listed on the platform’s homepage, only to sell them shortly after they were released to the public. OpenSea promptly responded in a that it would 'make recommendations on how we can strengthen our existing controls' and accepted the resignation of the unidentified executive.

In January 2022, users noticed a theft on OpenSea of , worth around $800,000 at the time of the attack. OpenSea said it contacted affected customers directly and reimbursed them, but said the problem is fundamental to blockchain marketplaces and on how to handle their accounts to avoid this vulnerability.

Blockchain-related technologies often develop a community around their platforms, and OpenSea is no exception. But sometimes communities experience unrest, as OpenSea did in Dec. 2021. The NFT marketplace faced heavy criticism after .

Users felt the company should keep its fundraising within the community, through an OpenSea token airdrop. , the executive said that the firm was 'not planning an IPO, and if we ever did, we would look to involve the community.'

In Jan. 2022, OpenSea closed a $300 million Series C funding round led by Paradigm and Coatue, raising the platform’s . While the company said it isn’t actively planning an IPO, points to that eventuality. Previously, Brian Roberts served as the CFO of the ride-sharing platform Lyft, where he led the company’s IPO, raising $7 billion of capital.

As the leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea will always face competition. LooksRare’s vampire attack was a startling and successful example. While similar tactics may take away from OpenSea’s trading volume in the short term, its large market share could help it remain a leader in the long run. OpenSea saw a 646-fold increase in trading volume in 2021, surpassing $14 billion. As the entire NFT market measured , OpenSea accounted for 56% of the transaction volume. With its size advantage, OpenSea could remain the top NFT marketplace for the foreseeable future.

took off in June 2021 and is one of the most popular curated NFT marketplaces. The platform is built upon the Binance Smart Chain and charges no marketplace fees.

launched in March 2021 on the Crypto.com chain. The platform has collaborated with popular brands like Aston Martin and the UFC. Crypto.com NFT charges no marketplace fees.

brands itself as a 'community-first' NFT marketplace that debuted in January 2022 with a so-called vampire attack to . The marketplace built on Ethereum crossed $1 billion in sales volume within a week from its launch. The platform charges a basic sales fee of for NFT sales.

is the first USD-based, centralized NFT marketplace, owned by Gemini. The marketplace was launched in 2018 and acquired by the Winklevoss twins in 2019. The platform charges a 5% marketplace fee.

is a community-owned NFT marketplace with similar features to OpenSea and likewise built on the Ethereum network — with multi-chain support for Flow and Tezos. The platform was launched at the beginning of 2020. To date, Rarible has over 1.6 million users and charges a 2.5% marketplace fee.

is the first and largest NFT marketplace built on the blockchain, which aims to promote artists and creators through its trustless marketplace. Solanart was launched in July 2021 and charges a 3% marketplace fee.

is one of the first Ethereum-based NFT marketplaces and launched in April 2018. SuperRare is a marketplace exclusively for digital art and charges a 15% fee.

1) . PUBLISHED JANUARY 28, 2022 | 6:16 AM HKTLAST UPDATED 7 MONTHS AGOBY

🙈
according to DappRadar
CryptoPunks
Doodles
trustless
2.5% cut
Ethereum
cross-blockchain support
Polygon
gas-free marketplace
crypto wallets
gas guzzler
OpenSea added cross-chain support for Polygon
Ethereum 2.0
OpenSea’s status tracker
service provider outage
site reliability report
OpenSea’s head of product was accused of trading NFTs on insider information
blog post
332 ETH
notified all customers
its CFO began plans to take the company public
After the backlash
valuation to $13.3 billion
hiring a seasoned CFO in 2021
$25 billion in 2021
Binance NFT
Crypto.com NFT
LooksRare
challenge OpenSea’s dominance
2%
Nifty Gateway
Rarible
Solanart
Solana
SuperRare
Forkast
ZOLTAN VARDAI