View source for OpenSea

{{Short description|American non-fungible token marketplace}}
{{Infobox company
| name = OpenSea
| logo = OpenSea_Logo.png
| caption =
| trading_name = <!-- d/b/a/, doing business as - if different from legal name above -->
| native_name = <!-- Company's name in home country language -->
| native_name_lang = <!-- Use ISO 639-2 code, e.g. "fr" for French. If there is more than one native name, in different languages, enter those names using {{tl|lang}}, instead. -->
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| type = Private
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| industry =
| genre = <!-- Only used with media and publishing companies -->
| fate =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| foundation = 2017
| defunct = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| location_city = [[New York City]]
| location_country = [[United States]]
| locations = <!-- Number of locations, stores, offices, etc. -->
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = {{unbulleted list|[[Devin Finzer]] {{small|(CEO)}}|Nadav Hollander {{small|(CTO)}}|Shiva Rajaraman|{{small|(CBO)}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/06/long-time-lyft-cfo-departs-to-become-cfo-at-nft-marketplace-opensea/|title=Long-time Lyft CFO departs to become CFO at NFT marketplace OpenSea|date=6 December 2021 }}</ref>}}
| products =
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| aum = <!-- Only used with financial services companies -->
| assets =
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| homepage = {{URL|https://opensea.io/}}
| footnotes =
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}}
'''OpenSea''' is an American [[non-fungible token]] (NFT) marketplace headquartered in [[New York City]]. The company was founded by [[Devin Finzer]] and Alex Atallah in 2017.<ref name="Founded">{{cite web |last1=Ehrlich |first1=Steven |title=NFT Marketplace CEO Explains Why The Industry Is Moving Beyond Ideological Purists |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/07/06/nft-marketplace-ceo-explains-why-the-industry-is-moving-beyond-ideological-purists/ |work=Forbes |access-date=29 November 2021 |date=6 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Luca |title=OpenSea is the world's first and largest NFT marketplace |url=https://opensea.io/collection/nftmagpass |work=OpenSea |access-date=18 June 2021 |date=22 March 2020}}</ref>
OpenSea offers a marketplace online allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directly at a fixed price, or through an auction.
== History ==
[[Devin Finzer]] and Alex Atallah founded OpenSea in December 2017.<ref name=Brandom>{{cite news |last=Brandom |first=Russell |title=How one company took over the NFT trade |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/2/22914081/open-sea-nft-marketplace-web3-fundraising-finzer-a16z |work=The Verge |access-date=September 20, 2023 |date=February 2, 2022}}</ref> They were inspired by [[CryptoKitties]], a blockchain-based game featuring non-fungible tokens that had been released earlier that year.<ref name=Brandom/> Finzer and Atallah believed that OpenSea could be a marketplace for buying NFT tokens like those.<ref name=Brandom/> [[Y Combinator]] accepted OpenSea into its accelerator program in 2018,<ref name=Brandom/> and in an announcement described the startup as a "peer-to-peer marketplace for cryptogoods".<ref name=YCombinator>{{cite web |title=13 Companies From YC Winter 2018
|url=https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/13-companies-from-yc-winter-2018/ |publisher=[[Y Combinator]] |access-date=September 20, 2023 |date=March 16, 2018}}</ref>
After finishing the pre-seed round by [[Y Combinator]], OpenSea raised $2.1 million in venture capital in November 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 4, 2022 |title=OpenSea Co-Founder Alex Atallah to Leave Company End of July |url=https://pandaily.com/opensea-co-founder-alex-atallah-to-leave-company-end-of-july/|access-date=November 1, 2023 |website=Pandaily}}</ref>
In March 2020, the platform had 4,000 active users completing $1.1 million in transactions a month.<ref name=Kauflin>{{cite news |last=Kauflin |first=Jeff |title=What Every Crypto Buyer Should Know About OpenSea, The King Of The NFT Market |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2021/11/23/what-every-crypto-buyer-should-know-about-opensea-the-king-of-the-nft-market/?sh=6217e8f52f89 |work=Forbes |access-date=September 20, 2023 |date=November 23, 2021}}</ref> By July 2021, users were completing $350 million in transactions a month,<ref name=Kauflin/> and the company was valued at $1.5 billion—meaning [[Unicorn (finance)|unicorn]] status—after a $100 million [[Venture round|Series B venture round]] led by [[Andreessen Horowitz]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Matney |first=Lucas |date=2021-07-20 |title=NFT market OpenSea hits $1.5 billion valuation |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/20/nft-market-opensea-hits-1-5-billion-valuation/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref> In August 2021, the value of monthly transactions spiked to $3.4 billion, and in November OpenSea had 1.8 million active users.<ref name=Kauflin/>
On September 14 of that same year, Nate Chastain, the then-head of product at OpenSea, was accused of insider trading after it was revealed that he bought NFTs shortly before they were showcased on OpenSea's front page, subsequently selling them at higher values.<ref name=MatneySep152021>{{cite news |last=Matney |first=Lucas |title=OpenSea admits incident as top exec is accused of trading NFTs on insider information |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/15/opensea-admits-incident-as-top-exec-is-accused-of-trading-nfts-on-insider-information/ |work=Tech Crunch |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=September 15, 2021}}</ref><ref name=MatneyJune2022>{{cite news |last=Matney |first=Lucas |title=Former OpenSea exec arrested and charged with insider trading of NFTs
|url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/01/former-opensea-exec-arrested-and-charged-with-insider-trading-of-nfts/?guccounter=2 |work=Tech Crunch |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=June 1, 2022}}</ref> The next day OpenSea acknowledged the accusations and launched an internal review.<ref name=MatneySep152021/> On September 16, OpenSea announced that Chastain had resigned.<ref name=Kharif2021>{{cite news |last=Kharif |first=Olga |title=OpenSea says employee resigned over NFT insider trading scandal |url=https://fortune.com/2021/09/16/opensea-nft-employee-resigned-insider-trading-scandal/ |work=Fortune |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=September 16, 2021}}</ref> In May 2023, Chastain was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in federal court and later sentenced to three months in prison.<ref name=Godoy2023>{{cite news |last=Godoy |first=Jody |title=Ex-OpenSea manager sentenced to 3 months in prison for NFT insider trading
|url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/ex-opensea-manager-sentenced-3-months-prison-nft-insider-trading-2023-08-22/ |work=Reuters |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=August 22, 2022}}</ref>
In January 2022, the company was valued at $13.3 billion and was described by [[The New York Times]] as being "one of the most talked-about blockchain start-ups in Silicon Valley".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Isaac |first=Mike |date=2022-01-05 |title=OpenSea valued at $13.3 billion in new round of venture funding. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/business/opensea-13-billion-valuation-venture-funding.html |access-date=2022-04-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The daily trading volume on the OpenSea marketplace reached $2.7 billion on May 1, 2022, but four months later had dropped by 99%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trading volume on top NFT marketplace OpenSea down 99% since May |url=https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/08/29/nfts-opensea-crypto-winter-bubble-blockchain-web3/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=Fortune Crypto |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-05 |title=NFT marketplace OpenSea's trading volume nosedives 99%. Is the bubble bursting? |url=https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/nft-marketplace-openseas-trading-volume-nosedives-99-is-the-bubble-bursting/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=Music Business Worldwide |language=en-US}}</ref>
In January 2022, OpenSea acquired Ethereum wallet-maker Dharma Labs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=OpenSea acquires ethereum wallet Dharma Labs as the NFT marketplace's trading boom continues after landmark 2021|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/opensea-acquires-ethereum-wallet-dharma-204401781.html|access-date=2022-01-18|website=uk.news.yahoo.com|date=18 January 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Later that month, 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Egkolfopoulou |first=Misyrlena |date=2022-01-28 |title=OpenSea reimburses users $1.8 million after bug led them to sell NFTs at a discount |url=https://fortune.com/2022/01/28/opensea-reimburses-users-1-8-million-bug-sell-nfts-bored-ape-yacht-club/ |access-date=2022-01-28 |website=Fortune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Faife|first=Corin|date=2022-01-24|title=An OpenSea bug let attackers boss Apes from owners at six-figure discounts|url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/24/22899125/opensea-bug-bored-ape-nfts-smart-contract-listings-cancellation|access-date=2022-01-28|website=The Verge|language=en}}</ref>
On January 27, 2022, OpenSea announced it would limit how many NFTs a user could create using the free minting tool.<ref name=Mattei2022>{{cite news |last=Escalante-De Mattei |first=Shanti |title=After Announcing NFT Limit, OpenSea Reverses Course Amid User Uproar
|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/opensea-nft-limit-controversy-1234617074/ |work=ARTnews |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=January 28, 2022}}</ref> The following day, OpenSea reversed the decision.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Over 80 percent of NFTs minted for free on OpenSea are fake, plagiarized or spam|url=https://www.engadget.com/opensea-free-minting-tool-220008042.html|access-date=2022-02-02|website=Engadget|language=en-US}}</ref> The company stated that its initial decision was based on concern about theft, plagiarism, and spam,<ref name=Mattei2022/> as  80% of the NFTs removed from OpenSea for violations were minted using the tool.<ref name=Sato2022>{{cite news |last=Sato |first=Mia |title=OpenSea is adding NFT copy detection and verification features |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/11/23067192/opensea-nfts-copying-plagiarism-copymint-verification-bayc |work=The Verge |access-date=September 22, 2023 |date=May 11, 2022}}</ref>
On February 19, 2022, some users began to report that some of their NFTs disappeared. OpenSea later revealed a [[phishing]] attack had taken place on its platform via an exploit in the Wyvern Platform.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Adam Morgan |title=OpenSea confirms hackers made $1.7 million on NFTs stolen in a phishing attack at the weekend |url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/nft-opensea-hack-phishing-stolen-millions-smart-contract-crypto-attack-2022-2 |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=Markets Insider |language=en-US}}</ref> The next day, ''[[The Verge]]'' reported that hundreds of NFTs were stolen from OpenSea users causing a huge panic among the platform community. The estimated value of the stolen tokens was more than $1.7 million. According to OpenSea, only 32 users had been affected. OpenSea later revised its statement to note that 17 users were directly affected, while the other 15 users had interacted with the attacker but had not lost tokens as a result.<ref>{{Cite web |title=$1.7 million in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/20/22943228/opensea-phishing-hack-smart-contract-bug-stolen-nft/ |access-date=2022-02-20 |website=The Verge |date=20 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
In March 2022, OpenSea confirmed that it was blocking accounts in countries that are subject to [[United States sanctions]].<ref name=GordonFortune>{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Nicholas |date=March 4, 2022 |access-date=December 17, 2023 |title=NFT marketplace OpenSea confirms it will block accounts hit by U.S. sanctions, reviving debate over how decentralized blockchain really is |url=https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/03/04/opensea-metamask-block-users-sanctions/ |work=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]}}</ref>
On April 25, 2022, OpenSea announced the acquisition of the NFT marketplace [[Search aggregator|aggregator company]] Gem.xyz.<ref>{{Cite news |title=NFT aggregator Gem.xyz acquired by OpenSea shortly after ousting co-founder for sexual misconduct |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/25/nft-aggregator-gem-acquired-by-opensea-shortly-after-ousting-co-founder-for-sexual-misconduct/ |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=TechCrunch |date=25 April 2022 |language=en-US|last1=Ramaswamy |first1=Anita }}</ref>
On June 30, 2022 OpenSea reported a major email [[data breach]] had occurred when a senior engineer at an email vendor, Customer.io, misused his employee access to download and share OpenSea user email addresses with an "external bad actor." Over 1.8 million email addresses are said to have been leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NFT giant OpenSea reports major email data breach |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/30/nft-opensea-data-breach/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=TechCrunch |date=30 June 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> In July 2022, Customer.io revealed that five other companies were also impacted by the employee's data leak.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Malia |title=Customer.io finds more clients affected by data leak |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/inno/stories/news/2022/07/08/customerio-security-leak-opensea.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=PORTLANDINNO - BizJournals}}</ref>
On July 14, 2022, chief executive Devin Finzer tweeted that the company was cutting one in five of its employees.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-07-15 |title=FT Cryptofinance: Celsius's fall into bankruptcy and the future of crypto |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/003219f5-8484-4b56-a506-f2df0b0e14cd |access-date=2023-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Richard Lawler|date=July 14, 2022|title=Giant NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off about 20 percent of its staff|work=[[The Verge]]|url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/14/23219076/opensea-nft-layoffs-web3-crypto}}</ref>
The daily volume of NFT transactions on OpenSea peaked at $2.7 billion on May 1, 2022, but then dropped by 99% within four months to just $9.34 million on August 28, with daily users down a third to 24,020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quiroz-Gutierrez |first=Marco |date=2022-08-29 |title=Trading volume on top NFT marketplace OpenSea down 99% since May |url=https://fortune.com/2022/08/29/nfts-opensea-crypto-winter-bubble-blockchain-web3/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829170925/https://fortune.com/2022/08/29/nfts-opensea-crypto-winter-bubble-blockchain-web3/ |archive-date=2022-08-29 |access-date=2022-09-10 |website=Fortune |language=en}}</ref>
=== Funding ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Funding rounds
! Date !! Amount<br />(millions of $) !! From !! Notes
|-
|2018<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Finzer |first1=Devin |title=Bringing on additional strategic investors to OpenSea |url=https://opensea.io/blog/announcements/bringing-on-additional-strategic-investors-to-opensea/ |website=OpenSea |access-date=29 November 2021 |date=9 November 2019}}</ref>
|
|[[Y Combinator]], [[Animoca Brands]]
|Pre-seed round
|-
|November 2019<ref name=":1" />
|2.1
|Multiple sources
|
|-
|March 2021<ref>{{cite web|last1=Matney|first1=Lucas|date=18 March 2021|title=NFT marketplace OpenSea raises $23 million from a16z|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/nft-marketplace-opensea-raises-23-million-from-a16z/|access-date=29 November 2021|website=TechCrunch}}</ref>
|23
|[[Andreessen Horowitz]], others
|Series A
|-
|July 2021<ref>{{cite web|last1=Matney|first1=Lucas|date=20 July 2021|title=NFT market OpenSea hits $1.5 billion valuation|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/20/nft-market-opensea-hits-1-5-billion-valuation/|access-date=29 November 2021|website=TechCrunch}}</ref>
|100
|Andreessen Horowitz, others
|Series B; valued at $1.5 billion
|-
|January 2022<ref>{{cite news|last=Isaac|first=Mike|date=4 January 2022|title=OpenSea valued at $13.3 billion in new round of venture funding.|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/business/opensea-13-billion-valuation-venture-funding.html|url-status=live|access-date=15 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110071919/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/business/opensea-13-billion-valuation-venture-funding.html|archive-date=10 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Matney |first=Lucas |date=2022-01-05 |title=NFT kingpin OpenSea lands monster $13.3B valuation in new raise |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/04/nft-kingpin-opensea-lands-13-3b-valuation-in-300m-raise-from-paradigm-and-coatue/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref>
|300
|Paradigm and [[Coatue Management]], others
|Series C; valued at $13.3 billion
|}
=== Features ===
In December 2020, OpenSea announced that any user could mint NFTs on its platform for free. Later, in March 2021, OpenSea announced NFT collections would not need to be approved to be listed; this decision was later criticized for allowing rampant plagiarism on the platform.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Volpicelli|first=Gian M.|title=Why OpenSea's NFT Marketplace Can't Win|language=en-US|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/opensea-nfts-twitter/|access-date=2022-02-11|issn=1059-1028}}</ref>
On September 17, 2021, OpenSea released an app for Android and iOS. The app allows for browsing the marketplace, but as of March 2023, the app does not allow buying or selling NFTs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Silberling |first1=Amanda |title=OpenSea released an app — but it's for browsing, not buying and selling |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/17/opensea-released-an-app-but-its-for-browsing-not-buying-and-selling/ |website=TechCrunch |access-date=29 November 2021 |date=17 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Ian |title=OpenSea has an app, but you can't buy NFTs on it |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/20/22684372/opensea-app-nft-ios-android-apple-google |website=The Verge |access-date=29 November 2021 |date=20 September 2021}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://www.opensea.io}}
[[Category:Non-fungible tokens]]
[[Category:Online retailers]]
[[Category:Y Combinator companies]]
[[Category:2017 establishments]]
[[Category:Companies based in Manhattan]]
[[Category:2017 establishments in New York City]]