By George Ward
The world’s largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea, is attempting to bring back its customers after seeing stiff competition from an emerging rival, Blur. However, mixed reactions trailed the rebranding of the popular NFT marketplace as its community aired their opinions of the move.
Disagreement Over OpenSea Pro
Following the decision of the NFT trading platform to rebrand the previous Gem v2 into OpenSea Pro, the platform’s community has been divided on whether it’s the right move. OpenSea announced the launch of OpenSea Pro, its advanced NFT marketplace, on April 4.
The new platform comes with new features and tools to enable users to list their collectibles on OpenSea with zero fees but for a limited period. Many in the OpenSea community were excited about the launch of the new project, with some expressing their thoughts on the microblogging site Twitter.
A commenter commends the platform for the release of the advanced features stating that this would enhance users’ experience in the NFT ecosystem. Another user noted that, like Gem, the OpenSea Pro is an excellent aggregated NFT marketplace.
However, not everyone was happy with the latest development, with a member of the OpenSea community posting on Twitter that the platform has “failed to rock the boat” about the emergence of Blur. Another user criticized OpenSea by claiming that its marketplace looked more like a platform for trading tools, adding that it should focus on the art and its creators.
Despite the contrasting sentiments in support of and against the launch of OpenSea Pro, some community members opined that there is an increasing rivalry between OpenSea and Blur. Users tagged Blur on Twitter, requesting the platform’s next move.
Meanwhile, an NFT analyst, Hunter Solaire, believes that the current struggle for market dominance between Blur and OpenSea will improve the digital collectibles space.
The Blur-OpenSea Competition
Last April, OpenSea completed the acquisition of Gem to serve experienced NFT collectors and enhance their transactions. With Gem, traders can buy NFT collections from different marketplaces within a single transaction, effectively reducing the cost of gas fees.
According to market observers, the move is a response to Blur’s increasing dominance which overtook OpenSea’s daily ETH trading volume on February 18, 2023. In addition, OpenSea also implemented several strategies to cut down its transaction fees, increase creators’ earnings and win back users lost to the Blur NFT marketplace.
Since its inception in October 2022, Blur has made a massive dent in OpenSea’s position as the NFT marketplace leader. The platform has cut deep into the market shares of some of the largest NFT marketplaces with its incentive strategy and advanced trading features huge attractions to NFT enthusiasts.
Meanwhile, the two NFT platforms have similar terms and conditions regarding creator royalties, as they restrict users from redeeming their total rewards.