OpenSea launches new “polished” zero-fee NFT Aggregator
In the wake of fierce competition from rival Blur for the top spot, NFT giant OpenSea announced a new aggregator platform that boasts zero fees for a promotional period, advanced order types, as well as “deepest liquidity and fastest speeds.”
Dubbed “OpenSea Pro”, the marketplace was previously known as Gem, acquired by OpenSea last April. The move is an attempt to appeal to pro-traders, a demographic that Blur is known to cater to.
OpenSea Pro
According to the official announcement, OpenSea Pro will enable users to benefit from a new level of choice, selection and control for professional collectors. The company said the “polished” marketplace will roll out a vastly improved suite of features that will allow collectors to discover the “best deals and insights” across 170 marketplaces. Collectors will also be able to tap sophisticated tools that meet their automation needs.
In addition to “cross-market live data” and advanced ordering, the “pro” version also boasts powerful inventory management, instant sales, most optimized gas taxes. Other new features such as a watchlist, live mints overview, batch transfer, etc. have also been incorporated.
“We built OpenSea to serve a variety of users – superfans, avid collectors, and crypto-n00bs. OpenSea Pro, on the other hand, exists primarily to serve the power user community, which represents an important part of today’s ecosystem.”
To that end, OpenSea Pro said it will focus on catering to the different needs of different users in terms of user interface, features and fee structures. The new marketplace will be accessible via mobile devices.
The Blur threat
OpenSea has held the position as the leading NFT marketplace for both creators and traders since the boom of 2021. But the emergence of a new rival, Blur, challenged OpenSeal’s dominance and forced the company to stir up new features to retain its historical supremacy.
Blur’s presence has grown steadily since its launch last year. The resulting marketplace increased NFT sales significantly in the first quarter of the year. However, it wasn’t until the aftermath of the token launch on February 14 that activity on the platform skyrocketed. This helped Blur emerge as a legitimate contender for the title of NFT market leader. It even surpassed OpenSea in NFT trading on Ethereum in February.
OpenSea, on the other hand, resorted to reducing its 2.5% fee on sales, as well as cutting creators’ royalty protection for a short period.
