OpenSea Sets New All-Time High of $3.5 Billion in Monthly NFT Sales

OpenSea, which claims to be the world’s biggest online marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has set a new record in sales volume, indicating the rising craze for NFTs. While still in the middle of January, monthly sales on the platform have already surpassed $3.5 billion (roughly Rs. 26,038 crore) for the first time ever. The trading volume was calculated in the Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency. OpenSea was founded in 2017 in the US. Young technology entrepreneur Devin Finzer is the CEO of the NFT marketplace.

The development marks a new all-time high (ATH) for OpenSea that had recorded ATH of $3.42 billion (roughly Rs. 25,434 crore) as its monthly sales record in August 2021, as per the data from Dune Analytics.

The price hikes of some popular NFT collections and pieces are contributing to the profits being churned by OpenSea. These NFTs include those from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and its sister collections such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BACK).

With trading worth $47 million (roughly Rs. 349 crore) in the last 24 hours, BAYC NFTs are the most popular ones available on OpenSea, a report by CoinTelegraph said.

NFTs are digital collectibles that have, of late, tickled the fancies of several international artists and celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Steve Harvey, Amitabh Bachchan, and Salman Khan among others.

NFTs can be based on a wide range of items that may or may not exist in real life, including sketches, paintings, and video game characters.

Recently, an Indonesian student became an overnight millionaire for selling his straight-faced selfies on OpenSea.

Surging sales and hefty prices on NFTs have baffled many but the multi-fold growth shows little or no depreciation whatsoever.

In the third quarter of 2021, NFT sales volume surged to $10.7 billion (roughly Rs. 79,820 crore), up by over eightfold from the previous quarter, according to data from market tracker DappRadar.

Since OpenSea provides a marketplace for NFT enthusiasts to buy and sell their pieces, it is only natural for the platform to grow.

In a recent Series C funding round, OpenSea bagged a fresh investment of $300 million (roughly Rs. 2,229 crore), taking its total market valuation to $13.3 billion (roughly Rs. 98,868 crore). In July last year, OpenSea’s market valuation stood at 1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 11,150 crore).

Following the success of OpenSea’s NFT selling business, other names in the sector have begun to crop up.

Earlier this month, for instance, a new NFT marketplace named “LooksRare” launched in the market. Within just three days of its launch, it recorded a sales volume of $394 million (roughly Rs. 2,912 crore).

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