Cryptocurrencies and NFTs have become very popular as investment tools. The main reason for their preference are the easy accessibility of these investment instruments, fast buying and selling options, and high profit rates. When it comes to NFT, one of the first platforms that comes to mind is OpenSea. So what is OpenSea? The platform, where every user can easily open an account and make their own productions, has become an ideal address for users.
What is OpenSea?
OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace headquartered in New York. At the same time, it is the largest among its counterparts in terms of volume. It contains thousands of projects and hundreds of thousands of NFTs.
Apart from being an NFT marketplace, OpenSea is a platform where NFT is produced and sold. It enables NFTs produced through the tools it contains to be put up for sale in more than one way, and at the same time, it allows you to earn money from future sales even if you have sold your NFTs using only intellectual property and no longer own them, with these tools.
History of OpenSea
OpenSea was founded in New York City by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah on December 20, 2017, when NFTs were just beginning to be heard by the masses and multiple projects were starting at the same time.
After the first pre-seed investment round in 2018, OpenSea raised $2.1 million in capital in November 2019.
In December 2020, OpenSea announced that any user can generate NFTs on its platform for free, allowing anyone to join the platform. In March 2021, OpenSea removed the approval requirement for listing NFT collections, enabling people who entered the platform to produce and sell NFTs faster. After this decision by OpenSea, NFT manufacturers and artists on the platform opposed the decision, saying that the decision would lead to NFT plagiarism, that is, theft of designs.
On September 17, 2021, OpenSea released Android and iOS apps where only users can view and track NFTs. The application does not allow any form of sale or purchase.
In January 2022, OpenSea acquired Ethereum wallet manufacturer Dharma Labs, and OpenSea refunded users approximately $1.8 million after a user interface bug allowed users to purchase more than $1 million in NFTs at a discount.
In April 2022, OpenSea gave users the ability to buy and sell popular Solana NFTs in the Solana beta version of OpenSea. This feature was announced in November 2021.
How do I enter OpenSea?
Simply enter the website to navigate OpenSea and discover NFTs.
To enter OpenSea to sell or buy NFTs, you must first have a crypto wallet. OpenSea currently supports many crypto wallets including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect, Phantom and Glow. After creating your wallet, it is enough to connect your wallet by entering OpenSea, to generate and sell NFTs or to buy NFTs.
What is NFT Collection?
Many NFTs listed on OpenSea are listed in collections. Collections with a theme make NFTs more valuable and preferable. As collections become more popular, NFTs in collections can also offer different privileges, while the prices of individual NFTs increase. Some collections offer private Discord servers as an example, while others may provide entrance tickets for a large party or real life business advantages.
How to Buy NFT on OpenSea?
Once you have linked your cryptocurrency account to OpenSea and selected an NFT, it gives the buyer the option to bid or buy directly. It all depends on how the artist who produced the NFT wishes to sell it. If you bid on an NFT you like, the NFT will be sold to you if the highest bid is yours when the auction period ends. However, NFTs offered for sale without an auction are instantly available at a fixed price.
Which Cryptocurrencies can NFT be purchased with?
While Ethereum is the most used cryptocurrency when shopping on OpenSea, currencies such as Solana, Wrapped Ethereum can also be used. Each currency has advantages and disadvantages on both the seller and buyer side. NFTs using Ethereum are relatively more popular and reliable than others, but have high gas fees, while other cryptocurrencies have no or very low gas fees.
Questions answered by the blog:
- What is OpenSea?
- History of OpenSea?
- How to Use OpenSea?
- How do I enter OpenSea?
- What is NFT Collection?
- How to buy NFT on OpenSea?
- Which Cryptocurrencies can NFT be purchased with?