KEY POINTS
Once-leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea is currently facing challenging times, with its trading volume hitting the lowest point since April 2021.
Data from Dune shows that in April, OpenSea witnessed a monthly NFT trading volume of $97.5 million, nearly matching the figure recorded in April 2021, which stood at $89.1 million.
“OpenSea is doing around 600 ETH of volume per day right now […] That number is down 99.1% from the May 2022 peak, when OS was doing 66,000 ETH of volume per day,” noted NFTstats.eth in an X (Twitter) post.
Factors contributing to these lows include the impact of Blast — the Ethereum L2 solution introduced by Blur — alongside a sustained decline in numbers.
These challenges stem from the rapid rise of Blur as OpenSea’s main competitor, which asserted dominance in Ethereum’s NFT market last December, commanding 77% of the trading volume, overshadowing OpenSea.
The competition between the two platforms has a lengthy history, with OpenSea making various attempts to regain public attention, such as reducing fees to 0%.
In the past month, OpenSea’s monthly active users dwindled to approximately 74,000, marking an 86% decrease from its peak in January 2022, when it exceeded 544,000 users.
However, market downturns and intense competition have proven to be big obstacles for OpenSea. In November 2023, the company announced employee layoffs, citing a shift to a “smaller team” to focus on “OpenSea 2.0.”
That move led investment firm Coatue Management to reduce its stake in the NFT marketplace by nearly 90%, resulting in a significant valuation adjustment.
In January 2024, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer emphasized the platform’s long-term strategy in response to declining trading volumes, prioritizing it over short-term metrics.
