OpenSea

OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace headquartered in New York City. The company was founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah in 2017.[2]

OpenSea
TypePrivate
Founded2017
Headquarters
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Number of employees
93
Websitehttps://opensea.io

OpenSea offers a marketplace allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directly at a fixed price, or through an auction, based on the Ethereum ERC-721 standard and the layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum Polygon.[3]

In 2021, following a heightened interest in non-fungible tokens, the company's revenue reached $95 million in February 2021 and $2.75 billion in September of that year. By January 2022, the company had been valued at $13.3 billion and has been considered the dominant non-fungible token marketplace.[4][5]

History

After a 2018 pre-seed round by Y Combinator, OpenSea raised $2.1 million in venture capital (including from Animoca Brands) in November 2019.[6][7]

In December 2020, OpenSea announced that any user can mint NFTs on its platform for free. Later, in March 2021, OpenSea announced NFT collections would no longer need OpenSea's previous approval to be listed. This decision was later criticized for allowing rampant NFT plagiarism on the platform.[8]

On September 17, 2021, OpenSea released an app for Android and iOS. The app allows for browsing the marketplace, but not buying or selling NFTs.[9][10] The same month, OpenSea admitted that an employee engaged in insider trading. OpenSea's Head of Product hoarded NFTs just before they were featured in the homepage.[11]

In January 2022, Twitter announced that it would use OpenSea’s API to let people create hexagonal shaped profile pictures of their NFTs.[8] That month, OpenSea acquired Ethereum wallet-maker Dharma Labs,[12]> and OpenSea reimbursed users about $1.8 million after a user interface bug allowed users to buy more than $1 million worth of NFTs at a discount.[13][14]

On January 27, 2022, OpenSea announced it would limit how many NFTs a user can create using the free minting tool.[15] The following day, OpenSea reversed the decision following user backlash and later admitted that 80% of NFTs created with the tool were plagiarism or spam.[16][17]

On February 19, 2022, some users began to report that some of their NFTs disappeared. OpenSea later revealed a phishing attack had took place on its platform via an exploit in the Wyvern Platform. The company denied rumors the source of the theft was their website, its listing systems, emails from the company, or an upgraded contract system.[18] On February 20, 2022, news reporting alleged that $1.7 million in NFTs had been stolen in the phishing attack.[19]

In March 2022, OpenSea announced that it would block accounts subject to United States sanctions.[20]

In April 2022, OpenSea gave users the ability to buy and sell popular Solana NFTs on OpenSea's Solana beta. This feature was announced back in November 2021.

On April 25, 2022, OpenSea announced to acquire the NFT marketplace aggregator company Gem.xyz.[21]

Funding
Funding rounds
DateAmount
(millions of $)		FromNotes
2018[6] Y Combinator Pre-seed round
November 2019[6] 2.1 Multiple sources
March 2021[22] 23 Andreessen Horowitz, others Series A
July 2021[23] 100 Andreessen Horowitz, others Series B; valued at $1.5 billion
January 2022[24] 300 Paradigm and Coatue Management, others Valuation at $13.3 billion

Attacks on the platform

In the mid of February, 2022, The Verge reported that hundreds of NFTs were stolen from OpenSea users causing a huge panic among the platform community.[25] The estimated value of the stolen tokens is more than $1.7 million. According to OpenSea, only 32 users had been affected. The platform's vulnerability poses a deeper question relating the security infrastructure of the existing NFT ecosystem.

References
  1. "Long-time Lyft CFO departs to become CFO at NFT marketplace OpenSea".
  2. Ehrlich, Steven (6 July 2021). "NFT Marketplace CEO Explains Why The Industry Is Moving Beyond Ideological Purists". Forbes. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  3. "How to Create and Sell NFTs for Free". PetaPixel. PetaPixel. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  4. "NFT kingpin OpenSea lands monster $13.3B valuation in new raise". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  5. Isaac, Mike (2022-01-05). "OpenSea valued at $13.3 billion in new round of venture funding". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  6. Finzer, Devin (9 November 2019). "Bringing on additional strategic investors to OpenSea". OpenSea. OpenSea. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  7. Insights, Ledger (2021-03-19). "NFT marketplace OpenSea raises $23 million led by Andreessen Horowitz". Ledger Insights - enterprise blockchain. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  8. Volpicelli, Gian M. "Why OpenSea's NFT Marketplace Can't Win". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  9. Silberling, Amanda (17 September 2021). "OpenSea released an app — but it's for browsing, not buying and selling". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  10. Campbell, Ian (20 September 2021). "OpenSea has an app, but you can't buy NFTs on it". The Verge. The Verge. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  11. "OpenSea admits insider trading of NFTs it promoted". BBC. 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  12. "OpenSea acquires ethereum wallet Dharma Labs as the NFT marketplace's trading boom continues after landmark 2021". uk.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  13. "OpenSea reimburses users $1.8 million after bug led them to sell NFTs at a discount". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  14. Faife, Corin (2022-01-24). "An OpenSea bug let attackers boss Apes from owners at six-figure discounts". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  15. Mattei, Shanti Escalante-De; Mattei, Shanti Escalante-De (2022-01-28). "After Announcing NFT Limit, OpenSea Reverses Course Amid User Uproar". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  16. "Over 80 percent of NFTs minted for free on OpenSea are fake, plagiarized or spam". Engadget. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  17. "More Than 80% of NFTs Created for Free on OpenSea Are Fraud or Spam, Company Says". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  18. "$1.7 million in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users". The Verge. February 20, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  19. "$1.7 million in NFTS stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users". 20 February 2022.
  20. "OpenSea users find out that even 'decentralized' internet has to obey sanctions". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  21. "NFT aggregator Gem.xyz acquired by OpenSea shortly after ousting co-founder for sexual misconduct". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  22. Matney, Lucas (18 March 2021). "NFT marketplace OpenSea raises $23 million from a16z". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  23. Matney, Lucas (20 July 2021). "NFT market OpenSea hits $1.5 billion valuation". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  24. Isaac, Mike (4 January 2022). "OpenSea valued at $13.3 billion in new round of venture funding". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  25. "$1.7 million in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users". The Verge. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
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