OpenSea has been the dominant decentralized platform for users looking to mint, buy, sell and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). By serving more as an NFT aggregator than a gallery, OpenSea secured a volume of USD 3.25 billion for December 2021 alone, according to data from Dune Analytics and from December 2020 to December 2021, the total volume increased by 90,968 %.
No stranger to contention and criticism, OpenSea has had its fair share of pitfalls and pitfalls. In particular, your former product manager, Nate Chastain, discovered that he uses inside information to get ahead and profit from the sale of NFT from the main page of the platform.
Adding to the general sentiment of mistrust, the community felt devalued after newly appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brian Roberts hinted at going public. However, he quickly reaffirmed that OpenSea has no intention of going public anytime soon.
OpenSea might be the top NFT market by transaction volume right now, but by 2022, there will surely be a handful of competitors aiming to unseat the giant.
Here are five NFT markets that could potentially shake the top competitor out of place in the coming months.
Coinbase NFT
Coinbase appears to be relying on elements of centralization as the main driver of mass adoption. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of NFTs, Coinbase rivals OpenSea in launching its NFT marketplace, Coinbase NFT. The waiting list has reportedly surpassed 1.1 million, which is more than OpenSea’s total active user base alone.
Announcing their launch of Coinbase NFT was a signal that captured the growing value that NFTs could capture as digital collectibles continue to be popular. By understanding how NFTs bridge culture and commerce, Coinbase NFT is likely to change the order of things. Meanwhile, the project has established partnerships with collections such as World of Women, DeadFellaz, and Lazy Lions.
While the market has yet to launch, its waiting list alone suggests that many investors are eager to get exposed to technology for the first time or want alternatives to what they already use.
It gives us great pride to announce our partnership with the Kings and Queens of the Lions Den. We love us some @LazyLionsNFT. #ROAR pic.twitter.com/5Od1d77dPm
– Coinbase NFT (@Coinbase_NFT) December 7, 2021
We are proud to announce our association with the Kings and Queens of the Lion’s Den. We love each other some @LazyLionsNFT
According to a statement made by Coinbase, Coinbase NFT will be peer-to-peer (P2P) “… with an intuitive design built on a decentralized marketplace.” IInitially following ERC-21 and ERC-1155 standards, the product also has plans to support multiple chains in the future.
Coinbase NFT will primarily function as a marketplace, but the company has hinted that it will also serve as a place to “foster connections.” To date, Coinbase operates in more than 100 countries and reports more than 73 million active users, while Coinbase clients trade quarterly volume of $ 327 billion, showing that there is a decent amount of liquidity in circulation. .
More than the amount of volume trading, Coinbase touts its robust user experience (UX) and flawless user interface (UI) design that is streamlined and easy to use.. Although many go to Twitter and complain From OpenSea’s UX / UI design, many other platforms come with barriers to entry, while OpenSea does not.
FTX NFT
Unlike Coinbase NFT, the FTX marketplace launched in October with a small collection of Solana-based NFTs and expanded its collection towards those on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike OpenSea and Coinbase NFT, FTX NFT is not a P2P platform, which means that it is centralized and guarded, so users’ data is recorded and stored on their home network. This means that users and collectors renounce ownership in some sense.
The implications of being a centralized platform are that the platform tends to impose fewer autonomous benefits on its owners and more restrictions and limitations due to concerns of securities laws. Unlike OpenSea, where users have full autonomy over their digital assets until sale, FTX NFT implements bidding mechanisms. As Brett Harrison, President of FTX.US explained in a statement: “By not requiring gasoline to do things like deals, we are going to see a lot more price action and price discovery on the platform, and we expect that overall attracts liquidity ”,
Their law-abiding ways caused such a strong influence on Solana NFT’s collections that many had to revoke their previously promised royalties since FTX NFT announced that it would no longer support projects that would grant their owners such a benefit.
The consequence came as a result of US regulatory concerns. Projects on the Ethereum network are also vetted to make sure they are compliant with securities laws and to ensure that they are not counterfeit knockoffs.
As such, OpenSea retains its value as it maintains a large variety of NFT collections.
Solana nft devs
Last week: “We need to add royalties to our project”This week: “No royalties. We need to be on FTX”.
– Ayofinance (@ Ayofinance1) October 11, 2021
Regardless of its minor setbacks, the market has received attention and undermines its rival in the fee structure. FTX NFT has a 2% fee structure, while Coinbase’s is 2.5%.
The platform also doesn’t seem to disdain users who eventually use non-custodial wallets, but its main focus is on value in accessibility.
Rare
Long before OpenSea rose to the top, Rarible was racking up higher monthly trading volumes than its counterpart. Despite opening up its platform to the community with its RARI government token, something OpenSea users have been persistently anticipating, Rarible has been unable to maintain the leadership it once had over OpenSea.
In November, the platform’s total value by volume was 4% higher than in October, with an estimated average of $ 18.2 million. However, its total monthly volume pales in comparison to OpenSea’s, given that its daily volume averages are at least five times higher.
For Rarible’s benefit, like the FTX NFT market, it understands the benefit of the strategic partnership of multiple chains. Rarible has already launched its NFT support on the Flow and Tezos blockchain, and there are plans to support Solana and Polygon in the near future.
With its decentralized ethos and multi-chain NFT support, Rarible could become a serious competitor in 2022.
Zora
Zora presents himself as a champion of Web 3.0 and decentralization, as he promotes his platform without permission completely “on-chain”. Since decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) tend to gravitate towards these principles, the platform maintains its value in historical purchases such as $ 4 million purchase of PleasrDAO from original NFT doge-meme.
web3 means satisfying ≥1 of these criteria:
– majority owned / controlled by users
– permissionlessly accessible / forkable
– censorship resistant@rainbowdotme is open source -> web3
Coinbase wallet is closed -> not web3@ourZORA open NFT auction standards -> web3
OpenSea? nope-. ∴ (@nir_III) December 15, 2021
web3 means meeting ≥1 of these criteria:
– majority owned / controlled by users
– accessible without permission / bifurcable
– censorship resistant @rainbowdotme is open source -> web3
Coinbase wallet is closed -> no web3 @ ourZORA opens NFT auction standards -> web3
Open sea? no
Zora has a zero fee structure and focuses most of its efforts on being the cornerstone of the permissionless protocol. Many crypto experts are drawn to the idea that artists and creators have more autonomy and ownership over their creations. If these remain pertinent concerns in 2022, it is possible that Zora could see an influx of new users.
Magic eden
Magic Eden is currently the top NFT market on Solana’s network and, according to DappRadar, it is ranked in the top ten NFT markets with $ 267.14 million since its launch in mid-September 2021.
The number of unique wallets has rebounded and has increased steadily over the past two months, making it a strong competitor to OpenSea. Although it is important to note that users are known to have more than one wallet address, perhaps suggesting that there might be fewer unique active users.
The low transaction fees of 2% give the platform a competitive advantage compared to other markets and, like the FTX NFTs, the listing is free for users. As shown below, the number of transactions on Magic Eden is often double or even triple the number of transactions that occur on OpenSea.
Although Magic Eden had a higher number of transactions, the amount per transaction is less than OpenSea. According to DappRadar, Magic Eden has accumulated more than 4.5 million transactions in the last 30 days, while OpenSea has processed less than half of that number at 1.7 million, but has a little more than five times the total volume of Magic Eden.
As the pace of NFTs has set in and digital collectibles continue to be popular, 2022 could see a larger demographic whose preferences may not align with OpenSea. When valuing accessibility, regulation, and a better user experience, these five NFT markets are strong contenders for their place at the top.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trade movement involves risk, you must do your own research when making a decision.