SNEAK PEEK
- OpenSea is making strategic changes to regain its market share amid a significant drop in NFT trading volume.
- Starting from August 18, 2023, OpenSea will no longer allow users to create new listings or make offers on NFTs issued on BNB Smart Chain.
- The decision to reduce support for BSC was due to resource constraints, as the cost of supporting BSC outweighed the impact.
OpenSea, a leading marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), is making strategic changes to regain its market share. Amid a significant drop in NFT trading volume, the platform has decided to limit its support for certain blockchains and revise its royalties policy.
Starting from August 18, 2023, OpenSea users will no longer be able to create new listings or make offers on NFTs issued on BNB Smart Chain, a blockchain developed by Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This decision was announced by the OpenSea team on its official Twitter account.
We’re still bullish on a multi-chain future — in fact we recently added support for L2s like @BuildOnBase & @ourZORA.
We’re confident this decision will help us direct resources to keep pace with the rapid innovation in our ecosystem.
Onwards,
OpenSea 💙— OpenSea (@opensea) August 18, 2023
However, OpenSea is not completely abandoning BNB Smart Chain. Users can still view, discover, and transfer BSC NFTs on the platform. The OpenSea team explained that the decision to reduce support for BSC was due to resource constraints.
Last year, OpenSea added several chains, including BSC, in response to excitement from the wider NFT ecosystem. However, as the space evolved, the team realized that the cost of supporting BSC outweighed the impact.
Despite this move, OpenSea remains committed to building multi-chain systems. Recently, the platform added support for Base, a novel Coinbase L2 platform on Ethereum, and Zora, an NFT-focused blockchain. Both Base and Zora are developed on OP Stack, an Optimism open-source framework.
OpenSea was one of the first multi-blockchain marketplaces in Web3 history, supporting chains such as Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Klaytn, according to DappRadar.
Moreover, OpenSea is making changes to its royalties policy. Starting from August 31, 2023, the platform will remove the Operator Filter and make royalties optional for all newly-created collections. This move is expected to provide more flexibility to creators and attract new users to the platform.
Significantly, amid the decline in NFT trading volume that has affected many platforms, Blur remains the only platform experiencing growth in all metrics. OpenSea’s strategic decisions come at a time when the NFT market is undergoing rapid changes, and platforms are adapting to stay competitive.
OpenSea’s decision to limit support for BNB Smart Chain and adjust its royalties policy reflects the platform’s efforts to adapt to the evolving NFT market. By focusing on resource-efficient blockchains and offering more flexibility to creators, OpenSea aims to regain its market share and remain a leading player in the NFT space.
