opensea

January 5, the originally scheduled NFT Paris Developer Conference, set for February, was suddenly canceled. Once lively with all-night parties along the Seine River, now only a cold official tweet remains: 'The market crash hit us hard; even with aggressive cost-cutting measures, we can't sustain ourselves.'
Five years ago, digital artist Beeple's work (Everydays: The First 5000 Days) sold for a record-breaking $69.3 million at Christie's auction house. Following that, from CryptoPunks selling for tens of millions of dollars to countless digital collectibles backed by major institutions, it was the golden age of NFTs.

Affected by the collapse of the NFT market last year, OpenSea, once valued at $13.3 billion, appeared to be somewhat inflated. Today, the NFT market is in a vortex of acquisitions.
OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer said this week that the company is open to deals, which could include being acquired.
"We're taking a pretty open attitude, frankly, and we think that if the right partner comes along, then certainly we should consider that," Finzer said in an interview.

Blur catches up from behind, OpenSea aims to build a "security compliance" brand

Technological innovation means nothing if the world doesn’t benefit, which is why Maliha Abidi, a Pakistani-American artist and founder of the 10,000-piece NFT series Women Rise, has chosen to stand at the revolutionary intersection of digital art and social change.​
It’s been more than two years since Women Rise first sold out in January 2022 and raised $120,000 for gender equality organizations like the Malala Fund, and it’s no surprise that Abidi and her team have been busy bringing the ongoing art Resources from product sales and philanthropic partnerships are invested in projects that advance girls’ education, including their latest project, BackpackX.

Travel photographer and NFT artist Eric Rubens is known for his sunset photography, sharing 50 sunset photos he captured over eight years in his Genesis NFT series 'Ocean Intersections.'
Each photo showcases his exquisite skill in creating engaging digital content. His love for travel photography runs as deep as the ocean, extending beyond himself to those he hopes to journey alongside.
Fans of Rubens's work can appreciate it from afar by owning one of his NFTs (or by becoming one of his over 400,000 Instagram followers) or by collaborating on his other web3 projects to build a world more focused on travel, creativity, and adventure.

London-based artist Anthony Heideman, better known as MountVitruvius or “MV,” has carved out a unique space in the field of generative art by incorporating personal memories and literary inspiration into his algorithmic creations.
His 999-piece “Mind the Gap” series is inspired by childhood games and exploration, and is released for the first time on generative art platform gm. Studio, while his “Render’s Game” series explores the iterative nature of cumulative achievement, paying homage to MV’s artistic journey and Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction novel “Ender’s Game.”

Prominent NFT trading platform #opensea is looking to reinvent itself as trading volumes of non-replaceable tokens have dropped to their lowest level in more than three years.

On Monday, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer posted a post to X talking about the new platform. “We've been slowly working on OpenSea,” he said. - To truly innovate, sometimes you have to take a step back and rethink everything. That's why we built the new OpenSea from the ground up.”

OpenSea also announced the new platform on its X account, saying it will launch in December. The marketplace also has a link to sign up for the waitlist. The announcement of the new platform follows almost exactly a year after OpenSea laid off half of its staff before Finzer said the company had begun work on “OpenSea 2.0.”

After being the dominant marketplace for NFTs for years, including during bull markets when tokens from popular collections like Bored Apes Yacht Club sometimes sold for millions of dollars, OpenSea was supplanted by newcomer Blur at the end of 2022. As the two sites fought for market dominance, overall trading volumes declined. OpenSea has recently managed to regain some of its market share, but according to The Block Data Dashboard, total trading volumes are at their lowest level in more than three years.

One trend that Blur's success over OpenSea seems to have demonstrated is that #NFT​ traders are increasingly interested in using platforms that offer more than just basic buying and selling functionality. Blur's success also suggests that traders want more sophisticated trading tools, while the platform attracts new users with rewards in the form of tokens.

OpenSea's redesign comes at a time when there appears to be little hope for NFT's growth. In January of this year, monthly NFT trading volume based on Ethereum's non-interchangeable tokens reached $868 million, before dropping to $300 million in June and $136 million last month, according to The Block Data Dashboard.
#SOLFutureRise

OpenSea, once the face of the 2021 NFT boom, is entering a new era — one that moves far beyond digital art. The platform’s latest shift marks its boldest step yet: a transition from a pure NFT marketplace to a universal on-chain trading hub.


From NFTs to “Trade Everything”


According to CEO Devin Finzer’s latest update, OpenSea recorded over $2.6 billion in trading volume this month — but more than 90% came from token trading, not NFTs. That number says it all: OpenSea is no longer just about collectibles; it’s becoming a platform to trade tokens, perps, and even real-world assets.


The company is branding this transformation as the “sequel” to its NFT-era success — though the timing hints at deeper reasons. NFT market capitalization has stagnated below $1 billion, down drastically from its 2022 highs near $1 trillion. Collections like Azuki and BAYC have seen floor prices collapse by over 80%, and even major competitors have experienced declining volume.


This context makes OpenSea’s move look less like expansion and more like strategic reinvention.


The $SEA Token: Fuel for a New Ecosystem


To power this new phase, OpenSea will launch its native $SEA token in Q1 2026. Half of the total allocation will go directly to the community, while 50% of platform revenue will be used for buybacks, supporting long-term token value.


$SEA will serve as the backbone for staking, governance, and OpenSea’s upcoming mobile trading app, currently in closed testing. The pivot symbolizes a shift from cultural assets to financial liquidity, bringing OpenSea deeper into DeFi and multi-asset markets.


The End of the NFT Era or Its Evolution?


For some, this rebrand represents the final chapter of the NFT mania. For others, it’s OpenSea’s smart adaptation to stay relevant in a market where utility now trumps hype.


If the biggest NFT marketplace in history is now betting on fungible tokens, the message is clear — the future of Web3 trading is about everything on-chain, not just art.


#OpenSea #SEAtoken #CryptoNews #defi

In January 2022, cross-disciplinary artist Ed Fornieles collaborated with art curator Sam Spike to bring an NFT version of electronic pets (Tamagotchi, once all the rage) into reality.
The 'Finiliar' designed by Fornieles is a group of adorable little creatures inspired by the chemical reactions that occur when humans interact with infants. Over the years, this team of little creatures has shortened their name from 'Finiliar' to 'Fini'.
In 2024, Fornieles will further explore the Fini world, taking viewers behind the scenes to understand how he depicts each Fini, their families, and their various emotions and expressions. In the 'Fini Sketches' series, Fornieles shares 25 Fini sketches and storyboards, adding context to the original series from 2022.