Morning Minute | OpenSea Pro and the Marketplace Wars Rage On
GM!
Take a minute to catch up on the latest in the Web3 space with today's NFT market analysis, top movers, and upcoming mints:
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TylerD's Market Summary
OpenSea is not going down without a fight, launching a new Blur competitor with OpenSea Pro and providing community rewards to win back favor. Will it work?
💎OpenSea Pro - The Blur Killer?
It's no secret that OpenSea has been reeling from the launch and success of Blur.
OpenSea went from the leading platform for trading, taking nearly all market share in 2021, to about 40%-50% share in the early Blur days, and then down to 20%-25% market share post-Blur airdrop.
They have since dropped platform fees to 0% and made royalties optional, which stll have not moved the needle.
Now we know their next move - embracing the NFT trader user base and providing new community rewards along the way.
On Tuesday, Devin Finzer (OpenSea Co-founder and CEO) and the OpenSea/Gem team made the blockbuster announcement that Gem is transitioning into OpenSea Pro.
And they immediately became the talk of NFT Twitter.
What You Need to Know
Here's the TLDR of the announcement (full post here):
- New website: Gem is rebranding as OpenSea Pro with a new website https://pro.opensea.io
- New functionality: Their new marketplace offers several new features highlighted by live aggregation across 170+ marketplaces, instant sales, and mobile integration
- Rewards: A free commemorative mint for Gem users called "Gemesis NFT" with promises of more "NFTs as rewards" to come
- Fees: 0% fees on OpenSea Pro for a "promotional period," and OpenSea fees are returning to 2.5% (effective immediately)
The rewards component seems to be the one most NFT traders (degens) are focused on in the wake of the announcement.
The Gemesis NFT
The commemorative Gemesis NFT is a "thank you" to anyone who used Gem prior to March 31, 2023.
It has 180,000 in total supply and can be minted here for free.
At time of writing, over 65,000 have been minted, and it has already seen 2,000+ ETH in volume and holds a 0.05 ETH floor. Sales have been as high as 1 ETH for serial 101, along with an epic fat finger of a 100 ETH accidental bid on Blur.
Some are speculating on its importance, with early comparisons both to Art Blocks "Friendship Bracelets" as well as the "Base, Introduced" NFT.
The team has shared that Gemesis is not part of the incentive program, though there will likely be some kind of reveal/rarity component.
Future Rewards
This is where things get spicy.
In the announcement, they share the following:
"And we’re not forgetting about community rewards. Keep your spyglasses ready! We’re charting a different course by featuring NFTs as rewards (this will be separate from our commemorative Gemesis NFT)."
Two immediate takeaways:
- There will be rewards to come and thus traders are incentivized to trade (farm?) on OpenSea Pro
- Do not expect a token airdrop like $OS of $GEM - the rewards will be more NFTs
They further emphasize the incentives with a message on the platform (if you hover over the Gem icon) that reads "We are keeping track of your activity on the platform."
Rewards are coming, and in the form of NFTs - we just don't know how much the market will value them.
Marketplace Overview
Some of the key features highlighted in their announcement include:
- Deeper aggregation with live data across 170+ marketplaces
- Advanced functionality like trait-based offers, max-priced orders, and batch transfers
- Easier offer acceptance functionality (dubbed "Instant sale")
- Mobile integration
- Optimized gas fees
- 0% marketplace fee
Regarding the interface - what should traders expect?
Well, the collection pages certainly resemble those of Blur with the activity pane and graph view flip-flopped in the right panel.
The Sweep tracker is a very nice addition for those who want to monitor, and the ability to add custom watchlists is nice as well.
Perhaps the biggest update is the "instant sales" feature and the easier ability to accept offers from the Wallet page. This is especially nice for edition-based projects, where accepting bids on the OpenSea platform can be a bit cumbersome.
The gas fees will be a core feature to watch as well, as gas has been high lately and high-frequency traders will definitely look for an edge there.
I haven't played with mobile yet and will save that review for a future date, but if that product is solid, that will be a big win for OpenSea as well.
Conclusion
This step to launch OpenSea Pro makes sense for OpenSea as they try to keep up with Blur and win back some trader market share.
There is an argument that this move accelerates the "shitcoinization" of NFTs (removing the non-fungible aspect), but the team wisely is keeping OpenSea Pro separate from its main site.
Finzer and Huculak basically acknowledge this in the final portion of the announcement:
"At OpenSea, our work to expand the NFT ecosystem and welcome the next 100 million people is really just beginning.
Focusing on different audiences with different platforms will help create a better user experience for these increasingly distinct categories of collectors!"
They are catering to traders/degens with OpenSea Pro, while keeping their core marketplace intact.
Will they be able to win back market share while maintaining their integrity?
Gem volume was up 84% on the day (according to this dashboard), though its overall marketshare is just ~2%.
Let's give this a full week and see how traders respond to the new interface.
But based on day 1 sentiment, feedback and personal experience, I'm calling this a win.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of the headlines from the day in NFTs:
- Trading volume came in just under 29k ETH on Tuesday, with Gem seeing 689 ETH (+84% on the day); Blur holds 66% share
- Several NFTs in the red by 3%-5% as ETH surges past $1,900; Clone X and Doodles both dip sub-3 ETH
- Lucky Trader launches new AI product "Lucky Lens" as a "ChatGPT for Web3" assistant to help NFT and Web3 participants keep up with the rapidly evolving space
- MetaMask is launching a new browser extension including an NFT tab, allowing users to view and transfer their NFTs
- Magic Eden rolls out trait-based offer functionality on its platform
- VeeFriends announces details for Burn Island Eruption 4, while the VeeFriends NFT
- Babylon has launched its "Open Gallery," enabling any artists worldwide to showcase and sell their artwork on the previously curated only platform.
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- The crypto market was green yesterday; BTC +1% at $28,550; ETH +2.7% at $1,910; ARB +5% to $1.27
- Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs are holding at 0.51 ETH after the former president was formally arrested on Tuesday and pled Not Guilty to 34 Felony counts
- Papa Johns is partnering with OneRare to launch pizza-themed NFTs in the foodie metaverse
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- Wrapped CryptoPunks (6,434 ETH, 59.9 ETH Floor)
- Otherdeed (2,129 ETH, 1.77 ETH)
- Gemesis (2,007 ETH; 0.05 ETH)
- BAYC (1,745 ETH, 61.8 ETH)
- Nakamigos (1,665 ETH, 0.42 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
- Gemesis (400%, 0.05 ETH Floor)
- Iron Paw Gang (12%, 0.64 ETH)
- VeeFriends (22%, 3.4 ETH)
- Pixelmon (8%, 0.39 ETH)
- Forgotten Runes Wizards (9%, 0.97 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Two main drops on the radar today, both in the generative art space.
The Art Blocks x Pace mint "PRELUDES" is the mint of the day, with the 250 supply project using a Dutch auction format with a 0.25 ETH resting price.
While Art Blocks volume has been down, the Pace collabs usually see more demand than the average drop.
Then this evening Monica Rizzolli (from Fragments of an Infinite Field) debuts a new project in "A Tour of Hypothetical Waterfalls." This set has some beautiful outputs and given her track record, expect major demand on this one.
- AB x Pace: PRELUDES by Trevor Paglen (12:00 p.m. ET); Dutch auction
-
Remembrance of Things Future Vol. 2: Monica Rizzolli: A Tour of Hypothetical Waterfalls (8:00 p.m. ET); 0.25 ETH
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.
