OpenSea is currently on the market raising money which will raise its valuation to $13 billion. Over the last year, we have seen a staggering rise in NFT (Non-Fungible Token) projects.
Some of them have been able to sell NFTs for millions of dollars. This has brought in a new surge of users hoping to strike it rich. OpenSea has been at the center of that wave and has benefited greatly from it.
DappRadar, a company that provides a global app store for decentralized applications is estimating that OpenSeas daily trading volume is at $162.5 million. This is the largest in the market thus far. Coinbase is currently in the works of launching its own NFT marketplace and capitalizing on the trend.
It’s not been 7 months since OpenSea raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion dollar valuation. This goes to show that they are investing heavily in the platform as they see new opportunities pop up within the space.
Despite its rise, there have been concerns over centralized NFT marketplaces. Recently OpenSea had to force its head of product to resign over front-running controversy. Nate Chastain, head of product at the time, was trading based on knowledge of NFTs that was to appear on the front page.
Recently they were in hot water again over the fact they froze over $2 million worth of Bored Ape NFTs that was deemed to be stolen. Despite the move, persons within the community criticized their control over the platform. It was anti-decentralized based on the control they have on what happens to NFTs within certain circumstances.
That’s a crazy valuation but in these times anything is possible