OpenSea Launches NFT Marketplace on Avalanche • TechCrunch

by James · October 20, 2022

As NFT activity continues to decline, some major players in the space have joined forces to expand their reach. The latest to do so is OpenSea, which has launched on the tier-1 blockchain, Avalanche, both firms told TechCrunch exclusively.

“The future of web3 is multichain; and it’s always been our goal to offer the best selection and connect people with projects and creators across the chains they prefer,” Shiva Rajaraman, VP of Product at OpenSea, told TechCrunch in an email.

OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, will operate on the blockchain alongside existing platforms such as NFTrade and other Avalanche-focused NFT marketplaces, including Joepegs and Kalao. With Avalanche, OpenSea users will be able to settle NFT transactions in under one second with low transaction fees, the company said.

“We’re listening to our community, and part of our community really wanted to have OpenSea,” John Wu, president of Ava Labs, told TechCrunch. “We have a burgeoning and vibrant creator and NFT community, and they wanted OpenSea as a choice.”

All Avalanche-based NFT collections will be featured on OpenSea, and more will be rolled out over time.

In addition, Avalanche works with a handful of Web 2.0 companies such as business and consumer brands and sports teams, Wu said. Those companies wanted OpenSea as an option on Avalanche, Wu said.

“They want to know that it’s a chain that’s scalable, because [Web 2.0] is so much bigger than web3. They want a chain that can handle massive amounts of user activity, Wu said. “These brands are far more comfortable working with OpenSea.”

To date, over $20 billion in volume has been traded across approximately 80 million NFTs on OpenSea. In January, the platform was valued at $13.3 billion as the subsector exploded in popularity. With around $404.6 million in sales, Avalanche is the seventh largest blockchain by NFT sales volume, CryptoSlam data shows.

Although the NFT market has slowed in recent months, Avalanche’s NFT sales volume rose 38.52% to $2.1 million in sales over the past 30 days, per CryptoSlam data.

“The whole NFT market is down, and it’s down a lot,” Wu said. “But if you break down the NFT market [ … ] much of the fluff is gone. What is starting to emerge is a new category of utility and fan engagement, along with other categories outside of the collecting world.”