OpenSea: Despite the NFT market downturn, we remain optimistic about the future
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OpenSea: Despite the NFT market downturn, we remain optimistic about the future
What will the world do with this infinite, blank canvas?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
Written by: Devin Finzer
Translated by: TechFlow
When we launched OpenSea at the end of 2017, we always maintained a grounded perspective—from a niche community trading CryptoKitties to a destination where people could freely explore a new economic system. Our GDP within the internet is already quite substantial in absolute terms, yet more and more people feel that critical building blocks are still missing—those foundational elements needed to power more vibrant and open digital economies.
In less than five years, the world has changed dramatically. NFTs have ushered in a new internet economy. The only remaining question is: "What will the world do with this infinite, blank canvas?"
The Vision for NFTs
NFTs are blockchain’s first mainstream application. They are unique, provably scarce, publicly transferable, user-owned tokens usable across multiple applications. They represent the fundamental building blocks of an open digital economy—one where users have greater freedom and ownership over their data, and developers can build powerful, interoperable applications that deliver real economic value to users.
In short, NFTs are foundational technology that will underpin thousands of use cases and industries—their applications limited only by human ingenuity, imagination, and patience.
The proliferation of NFTs continues to grow the GDP of the blockchain economy, and OpenSea's vision is to accelerate the development of this new economy and unlock its full potential.
Though today some may view NFTs as merely simple JPEGs, our ambitions are far greater.
We envision a world where:
- Artists earn a living by selling digital art;
- Loyal fans collect items from their favorite athletes and musicians, and influencers wear virtual clothing;
- Developers issue access licenses to their software in the form of NFTs;
- New jobs emerge in open, free-market game economies—such as “virtual world real estate agents” or “virtual reality sculptors.”
We believe that ultimately, the real-world economy will shift in this direction.
And there may come a day when nearly everything we own is represented, owned, and transferred on the blockchain as NFTs.
We firmly believe this technology will eventually power the largest markets on Earth and fundamentally transform society. This is OpenSea’s vision.
We Don’t Mind the Dips
Recent market conditions have impacted nearly every industry, and Web3 is no exception.
Certainly, since NFTs are priced in cryptocurrency, market downturns have had an effect (in fact, during the year we started building OpenSea, Ether dropped from $1,300 to $90).
But looking closely at the data reveals something often overlooked.
For example, our trading volume remains 10 times higher than in January 2021 and 40 times higher than 24 months ago. Between August 2021 (during the first NFT boom) and August 2022 (amid the 2022 bear market), OpenSea saw over 80% growth in monthly on-chain participants.
While the excitement of late 2021 and early 2022 was important for the platform and community, we must not lose sight of NFTs’ long-term promise and vision—it’s crucial to separate our long-term goals from short-term market fluctuations.
There is still much work ahead, but integrating NFTs into established ecosystems means entering markets like the $500 billion gaming industry or the $50 billion ticketing sector. In the long run, the potential market for NFT creation and consumption includes every person on Earth.
Stay Patient
Grand visions must be paired with patience and perseverance—transformations of this scale take time.
Currently, NFTs (PFP projects, collectibles, generative art) might not feel impactful, and many of the use cases we dream about (ticketing, gaming, music, real estate) are still in their infancy.
But we know there is much more ahead—we’re using today’s use cases to build the infrastructure for tomorrow’s internet economy. This infrastructure will create a virtuous cycle between projects, buyers, and sellers. As we enter the next phase of NFT development, these will serve as the building blocks for rapid innovation, creation, and experimentation.
We stand before a massive opportunity, and our long-term vision enables us to distinguish good ideas from hype, builders from speculators, and signal from noise.
This winter, I expect to see an explosion of innovation and utility across NFTs.
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