From a valuation of 13.3 billion to marginalization, can OpenSea still set sail after its transformation?
As the "synonym" of NFT trading, OpenSea became one of the most watched platforms in the crypto market in 2021 with its good user experience and strong network effect. However, with the rise of competitors such as Blur and Magic Eden, OpenSea's market share continued to decline. Nowadays, with the overall cooling of the NFT track, OpenSea has launched a series of transformation actions, trying to evolve from a "single NFT trading platform" to a "multi-asset trading portal on the chain."
From NFT Exchange to On-chain Asset Platform
OpenSea's transformation can be traced back to the beginning of this year.
In February 2025, OpenSea announced for the first time that it would issue the platform's native token SEA, and simultaneously launched the interactive task system Voyages, where users can earn points by completing on-chain tasks as a qualification for future airdrops. This move is considered a response to Blur's "trading is mining" model, with the intention of re-attracting lost traders.
In late May, OpenSea announced that the new version of the OS2 platform has officially left the Beta stage and supports token transactions for 19 mainstream public chains including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.
The new trading system integrates NFT and crypto tokens, emphasizes "composability" and "chain native", and further enhances the mobile experience.
On July 8, OpenSea made another move and announced the acquisition of Web3 wallet project Rally. Rally focuses on mobile self-hosted wallets, integrating social functions and multi-asset support. In this acquisition, Rally co-founder Chris Maddern will serve as OpenSea CTO, and another founder Christine Hall will serve as Chief of Staff and directly join the core management team.
OpenSea said that the acquisition of Rally will accelerate its "mobile first" strategy, lower the user entry threshold through the native wallet system, and enhance the platform's on-chain transaction closed-loop capabilities.
NFT market continues to be sluggish, OpenSea is losing a lot of blood
Despite the rapid pace of transformation, OpenSea's fundamentals have not improved.
According to The Block data, as of June 2025, OpenSea's monthly NFT trading volume had dropped to approximately US$120 million, far lower than its peak of more than US$4 billion in early 2022.
In contrast, Blur has long dominated the high-frequency trader market with its liquidity incentives and native token BLUR, while Magic Eden has remained at the top of the Solana ecosystem.
More importantly, although OpenSea launched the Voyages task system, it did not bring back significant user traffic. A large number of users have shown aesthetic fatigue with the "task points + airdrop expectations" model, the community enthusiasm has not recovered, and the interaction activity on the chain has increased only slightly.
As of now, the SEA token has not announced a specific launch time, distribution mechanism or economic model, and its transparency is limited, resulting in a lack of market confidence.
Brand Misalignment and User Migration: Harder Problems to Solve
In addition to liquidity issues, OpenSea also faces deeper challenges with its brand and user structure.
There are significant differences between NFT collectors and DeFi traders. The former pay more attention to artistry, scarcity and collection value, and prefer low-frequency transactions; while the latter emphasize liquidity, depth and efficiency, have high transaction frequency, and have more stringent requirements for user experience and technical response.
OpenSea was previously known for its positioning in the art market, but failed to form a competitive advantage in trading experience and professional products in a timely manner. If this transformation fails to quickly establish brand awareness for DeFi users, it may face the dilemma of "making products but no one uses them."
In addition, the wallet market has long been dominated by strong brands such as MetaMask and Rainbow. Although Rally has made some innovations in social and mobile terminals, its user base and product maturity are still limited. Whether OpenSea can build a wallet product with scale effect in the short term with this acquisition remains to be seen.
Transformation may be the last chance
OpenSea's transformation is both a self-rescue and a gamble.
It is trying to reshape its competitiveness through three major strategies: building an OS2 ecological closed loop to break the boundaries between NFT and DeFi, launching SEA tokens to activate liquidity, and expanding the mobile market through cooperation with Rally.
These choices are reasonable in terms of strategic direction. However, OpenSea does not have a clear lead in terms of execution rhythm, community mobilization, and product landing. When the SEA token will be launched and whether it has a clear incentive model will be the key variables in the coming months. If the airdrop fails to land and the platform user activity continues to decline, OpenSea may face a real risk of marginalization. You know, in the crypto world, a few months is an era, and OpenSea’s transformation window may really be running out.
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