Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) marketplaces have sprung up. If you’re interested in NFTs, there are several NFT markets that you can use to buy, sell, and even cast NFTs.
However, you need to know how the NFT market works in order to use them effectively. With that in mind, let’s take a look at OpenSea, one of the leading NFT market platforms.
What Is Opensea?
Opensea is the first ever decentralized NFT market built on the Ethereum blockchain and is currently the largest. You can use it to buy or sell NFTs and create your own collection of NFTs. While it sounds complicated, OpenSea is actually a simple platform that anyone can use.
The marketplace was originally marketed as CryptoKitties, one of the first decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain. Now it has grown into a marketplace for NFTs, including artwork, domain names, game projects, and music.
The platform has been hacked several times, during which thousands of dollars worth of NFTs have been stolen. Still, it’s the most trusted platform for NFT minting and trading.
Since it is based on the Ethereum blockchain, you need an Ethereum wallet to interact with and use OpenSea. Supported wallets include MetaMask, Coinbase, Trust Wallet, MyEtherWallet, and many others.
It also supports multiple blockchains such as Polygon (MATIC) and Klaytn (KLAY), so you have plenty of options to use in addition to Ethereum, the main blockchain. In addition, there are more than 200 payment methods, including stablecoins. All payment methods are related to cryptocurrencies.
How Does Opensea Work?
OpenSea is used for buying, selling, and NFT, using smart contracts because it is a decentralized, blockchain-based platform.
Smart contracts are programmed to ensure that there is no cheating on the platform, and creators can sell their tokens at what they see as appropriate.
OpenSea uses ERC-721 and ERC-1155 Ethereum-standard NFTs to confirm ownership of digital collectibles so that users don’t claim ownership of things that don’t belong to them.
While the marketplace facilitates the transfer of NFTs, transactions are done directly on the Ethereum network between sellers and buyers.
Since Ethereum’s transaction fees can be ridiculously high, OpenSea recently launched the Polygon blockchain to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions.
What is openSea used for?
As the transition from the physical age to the digital age continues to gain momentum, platforms like OpenSea will be heavily used to create and transfer ownership of digital collectibles.
In this anticipation, the market has many features to meet the needs of its users. Here are some of the main uses of OpenSea.
NFT Minting
Key uses for OpenSea. You can easily cast an NFT and build an NFT set. You don’t need any experience to do this, and it only takes a few simple steps.
Perhaps the best part is that there is no fee to cast NFTs on OpenSea, and you can cast as many as you want in your collection.
The NFTs you create can be anything from art, music, domain names, virtual worlds, transaction cards, collectibles, and sports assets. You can even cast NFTs that give you the right to show off, such as the Certificate of Attendance NFT in the image below, and send them to Web3 attendees
Marketplace for Buying and Selling NFTs
OpenSea is primarily known as a platform for buying and selling NFTs. Creators sell their digital creations here, while buyers can buy directly from them in peer-to-peer transactions.
OpenSea has the highest NFT sales volume, and creators can easily create their marketplaces, start selling NFTs, raise capital, and make NFT offerings for their followers. In addition to trading NFTs on OpenSea, the platform has a feature that allows you to gift NFTs to other OpenSea users.
Source of NFT Stats
The OpenSea platform is also a major source of NFT information. If you’re looking for statistics about NFTs, you can view compiled data about NFTs arranged by sales or activity, etc. in OpenSea NFT Stats.
What are the fees for OpenSea?
Anyone can use OpenSea to create their own marketplace, cast NFTs and share or sell for free. The platform only charges a 2.5% fee for each successful sale to help the market run. This low fee is one of the characteristics that differentiates OpenSea from other NFT markets.
In addition to that, you only have to pay network fees for the transaction. Similarly, if you use the Ethereum network, this should only be a problem, as Polygon and other blockchains don’t cost as much as Ethereum.
Is OpenSea Safe?
As mentioned earlier, OpenSea has been hacked several times. However, it remains the most reliable NFT market in the space. Use a smart contract to run it and keep it free from manipulation by most people, but you also have to make sure your account is secure.
It is recommended that you use two-factor authentication and other security measures on your account to prevent it from being compromised. However, for decentralized platforms, the responsibility for security usually falls on the user, so make sure you don’t take this lightly.
8 advantages and disadvantages of OpenSea
advantages
1. Simple and easy to use
2. It is free for everyone
3. Low fees for NFT sales
4. Multiple blockchains offer the option to evade Ethereum’s high fees
disadvantages
1. All payments are made in cryptocurrency only
2. You don’t know the mint fee until the sale is completed
3. There is no real decentralized management
Should you use Opensea?
If you have any relationship with NFTs, you should use OpenSea. It is currently the most trusted platform and the cheapest way to use it.
It doesn’t matter if you have any experience with NFTs, as Opensea is a platform that can be easily used even as an absolute beginner, so there’s really no reason not to use it.
