The non-fungible token (NFT) market is booming, and at its head is the first NFT market – OpenSea. Or at least that was before it was overtaken by the new LooksRare. The latter now handles traffic representing more than double the figures recorded by OpenSea.
Naturally, OpenSea has sought to expand its base further away from the Ethereum-based NFTs it traditionally hosts, as several other players emerge in the market. According to recent reports, the platform may even soon offer NFTs based on blockchain rival Solana, as Ethereum’s dominance in the space continues to decline.
It will also allow the larger market access to even more collectibles that are growing in popularity.
Popular hacker Jane Manchun Wong, who has previously leaked upcoming developments for popular platforms like Instagram and Facebook, revealed on Twitter that OpenSea is working to integrate Solana-based NFTs as well as Phantom wallet support. .
It should be noted, however, that OpenSea has yet to issue a statement accepting or denying Wong’s claims.
OpenSea is working on integrating Solana, as well as @Phantom wallet holder pic.twitter.com/ZEefshKSY1
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 25, 2022
This comes at a time when NFT transactions on the Solana blockchain crossed the $1 billion mark in total volume in January 2022. In fact, the Solana-based Magic Eden marketplace was the fourth in terms of daily trading volume.
This could be cause for concern for NFT maestro Ethereum, whose market dominance has fallen from 98% to 80% in recent months. This can largely be attributed to rising gas fees and high transaction times that characterize the network.
Although, since these issues have also begun to seep into Solana’s system as its popularity skyrockets, its emergence as a competitor to Ethereum has also been seriously questioned.
OpenSea itself has faced some challenges as the threat from competitors draws closer. The market saw a boom this month when it surpassed its previous all-time high set in September last year with sales of $3.8 billion. In fact, Zapper researchers found that since its inception, OpenSea has traded over $12 billion worth through 25 million transactions.
The developers of @zapper_fi just finished indexing all NFT transfers and OpenSea sales from block 0 on the mainnet.
It is:
– ~26,000 collections
– ~25 million NFT transfers
– ~12 billion sales on OpenSea
– Very bullish pic.twitter.com/HBcikBl5VN— felixd.eth 🦇🔊🐼 (@__felixd) January 25, 2022
However, it recently fell behind the recently launched LooksRare, which fueled much of the January momentum and overturned OpenSea dominance.
Additionally, the recent or upcoming launch of marketplaces by centralized crypto exchanges like Coinbase and FTX could further harm OpenSea’s business, giving a lot of impetus to its decision to broaden its horizons beyond Ethereum.
