There is no doubt that the NFT market has entered a long adjustment period after a brief boom. As the speculative frenzy fades, a large number of projects have stalled or been eliminated from the market. The once-dominant NFT trading giant OpenSea has also shifted from 'unicorn' to 'survival mode,' with its valuation of tens of billions significantly shrinking amid industry pains.
In the face of stagnant business growth and profit anxiety, OpenSea is actively seeking transformation. It is not only attempting to transition into an all-chain integrated trading platform but also aims to re-attract users and liquidity through airdrop incentives.
Token trading has surpassed NFTs, with significant contributions from old users.
OpenSea's business focus is accelerating its shift from traditional NFT trading to token trading.
According to Dune's data, OpenSea's trading volume had been low before April this year, maintaining only a few million USD daily, with the market focus still on traditional NFT trading.
However, since mid-September, the platform's trading structure has shown a significant turning point, with token trading volume rapidly climbing and surpassing NFTs for the first time, subsequently continuing to widen the gap, becoming a new growth engine for the platform. Especially on October 15, OpenSea's token trading volume reached 474 million USD, setting a historical high, while the NFT trading volume that day was only 13.74 million USD, accounting for less than 2.9%, with a significant gap between the two.
As of now, OpenSea's token trading volume this year has reached a cumulative 3.55 billion USD, of which the past 30 days contributed 3.03 billion USD, accounting for about 85.4% of the total for the year. These transactions mainly come from Base, Arbitrum, and Ethereum, with Base's contribution being particularly prominent. For example, on October 16, the platform's total trading volume exceeded 470 million USD, of which Base contributed 58.2%.
The surge in token trading has directly driven changes in OpenSea's revenue structure. According to Dune data tracking, the income from token trading in the past 30 days was approximately 25.5 million USD, accounting for 56.8% of OpenSea's total revenue this year (44.9 million USD).
In contrast, the overall trading volume of the NFT market this year is only 1.82 billion USD, less than half of token trading, with revenue of about 5.57 million USD in the past 30 days, far below that of the token sector. From the NFT trading on October 15, it is mainly distributed across Ethereum, Base, and HyperEVM.
It is worth noting that the significant increase in OpenSea's trading activity is not driven by new users but by the high-frequency operations of existing users. Since the second half of 2025, the number of active addresses on the platform has begun to rise significantly, while the proportion of repeat users has remained consistently high.
For example, on October 13, the number of active addresses on the platform reached 276,000, of which 94.2% were repeat users, meaning that the increase in OpenSea's trading volume relies more on the re-engagement and high-frequency interaction of existing users rather than the expansion of new users.
Simply put, OpenSea's short-term explosive power comes from the high-frequency liquidity of the token trading market and the deep participation of existing users.
Aiming to create a fully integrated application across chains, accelerating transformation through airdrop incentives
In July this year, OpenSea announced plans to create a fully integrated application across chains, integrating NFT, token, and DeFi functionalities into one, aiming to provide users with a brand new usage experience. This strategic layout had already begun months ago.
In February 2025, OpenSea fully launched its transformation, introducing the new version of the OS2 platform for public testing. OS2 is a completely restructured product, not only featuring a brand new interface and search functionality but also providing modes for collectors and professional users. The platform supports token exchanges and native cross-chain purchases in addition to traditional NFT trading, supports multiple blockchains, and enhances user participation through diversified incentive mechanisms.
At the same time, OpenSea announced the issuance of a token plan to reward long-term supporters and OG users, and promote sustainable development. According to the official explanation at the time, 'The NFT bull market has changed us; we have become too corporate, too Web2, afraid of risks, and ignored our original intention of building for users.'
This long-awaited news has reignited interest in the market, especially since during the NFT bull market, competitors like Blur siphoned off a significant share of OpenSea's market, leading to strong expectations for its token issuance.
In order to promote token trading business, OpenSea is making efforts at both product and technical levels. The platform integrates multiple blockchains such as Solana, HyperEVM, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Sei, and collaborates deeply with applications like Uniswap, MetaMask, Meteora, Coinbase Wallet to optimize cross-chain trading experience.
At the same time, OpenSea acquired Rally, introducing its mobile-first Web3 applications and Rally Wallet, supporting token trading across 19 blockchains. The newly launched mobile application also natively integrates AI tool 'OpenSea Intelligence', enabling real-time analysis of cross-chain portfolios and one-stop trading, providing users with intelligent asset management and trading experience.
In terms of user traffic activation, OpenSea actively seizes market hotspots, such as launching related tokens to leverage the NFTStrategy trend and injecting 20 ETH into the reward pool to incentivize trading activity.
The airdrop incentive plan is a more important driving factor. Last month, OpenSea announced that the pre-reward phase before TGE has entered the final stage and launched the 'Treasure Chest' event, where users can collect upgrades to treasure chests through cross-chain trading, daily tasks, and supplies to earn rewards. The platform will use 50% of the fees for user incentives.
After the event went live, the cumulative trading volume exceeded 2 billion USD. Currently, the Wave 1 phase has ended, and a total of 12.2 million USD worth of tokens and NFT rewards will be distributed soon. The Wave 2 phase started on October 15 and will last until November 15, with an initial prize pool including 1 million USD worth of OP, SOMI, and ETH tokens. This shows that the growth of OpenSea's trading activity is closely related to the airdrop and incentive mechanisms.
According to OpenSea's recent disclosure, the platform plans to launch the SEA token in the first quarter of 2026, with 50% of the total supply allocated to the community. The initial claim will account for half, and users participating in the OpenSea reward program and OG users will be given priority consideration. At the same time, according to previous official disclosures, it is evaluating the historical usage data and transaction volumes of users from different years and will develop more precise incentive strategies based on user profiles.
After the launch of the SEA token, OpenSea will also provide users with more utilization methods, including staking functionality, allowing users to stake SEA behind their favorite tokens and collectibles. In addition, 50% of SEA's income will be used to purchase SEA upon release, aiming to ensure the value of the token and the healthy development of the ecosystem.
Of course, during this period, OpenSea is also continuously promoting its NFT business, including launching the NFT reserve plan OpenSea Flagship Collection, planning to invest over 1 million USD to acquire historical and emerging NFTs to activate the vitality of the NFT market and enrich the platform ecosystem.
In summary, before the OpenSea airdrop plan is fully implemented, its market activity will continue to be driven by incentive mechanisms in the short term.
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