The market share of OpenSea, the first widely used exchange for non-fungible tokens, is declining. In August 2023, a succession of tactical choices may strengthen its standing. The marketplace has already drastically changed its royalty policy and condensed the list of supported blockchains.
OpenSea stops accepting BSC-based NFTs: Statement
Users of OpenSea won’t be allowed to add new listings for or offers on non-fungible tokens created on top of BNB Smart Chain, the largest CEX Binance’s (BNB) programmable blockchain, after August 18, 2023. The OpenSea team made this choice public on their official Twitter account.
OpenSea is not entirely exiting BNB Smart Chain, though, at the same time. On OpenSea, users will still be able to see, find, and transfer BSC NFTs. Regarding the justification for such a dramatic move, the OpenSea team acknowledged that long-term resource efficiency would prevent continuous support of BSC:
We introduced a number of chains last year, notably BNB Smart Chain (BSC), in response to the enthusiasm of the larger NFT ecosystem. But when our environment changes, we must direct resources towards the most successful initiatives. We have determined that the impact of continuing to support BSC surpasses the expense.
The OpenSea team emphasised their dedication to creating multi-chain systems, nevertheless. Recently, it introduced support for Zora, an NFT-focused blockchain, and Base, a unique Coinbase L2 platform on Ethereum (ETH). OP Stack, an Optimism open source framework, is used in the development of both Base and Zora.
One of the earliest multi-blockchain markets in Web3 history was called OpenSea. According to the DappRadar tracker, it supports Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Klaytn.
As previously reported by U.Today, the Blur marketplace ousted OpenSea from the top spot in the competition among NFT trading platforms in 2023.
OpenSea’s royalties policy upgrade faces backlash
Blur continues to be the only platform that shows all of its KPIs rocketing despite the devastating decline in NFT trading volume that took over 90% of its turnover.
Along with eliminating BSC support, OpenSea changed its approach to royalties. The Operator Filter will no longer be available on the platform as of August 31, 2023, and royalties will no longer be required for any newly formed collections.
Some of the big names in the sector vehemently opposed this move. Marc Cuban, an investor in OpenSea, described the upgrade as “a huge mistake.”
Due to the new costs policy, some NFT developer teams disclosed intentions to sunset their collections on OpenSea.
