From Bankless by William M. Peaster
On November 4th, OpenSea announced that a “new OpenSea is coming” and dropped an OS2 Waitlist at opensea.io/waitlist.
“To really innovate, sometimes you have to take a step back and reimagine everything,” co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer said on X. “So we built a new OpenSea from the ground up. Sails up in December.”
Of course, to follow Finzer’s metaphor, when you raise your sails, you’re hoisting them up the mast to fill them with wind and gain speed. What tailwinds, or reimaginings, might OpenSea be targeting with its 2.0 release?
Putting on my speculation cap, there are various things I wouldn’t be surprised to see rolled out when OS2 goes live. Maybe only one of these things materializes, or some combination thereof. Whatever happens, though, here are 5 interesting possibilities I’ll be watching out for.
Magic Eden has had early success with its Magic Eden Wallet offering. OpenSea could similarly opt to unveil its own wallet to deepen its connection with users. For instance, with a wallet OpenSea could achieve more ecosystem lock-in through bespoke, streamlined UX for collectors, built-in NFT security mechanisms, and unique loyalty perks—all while opening new revenue streams via transaction fees or additional DeFi services.
Devin Finzer saying the new OpenSea has been rebuilt “from the ground up” suggests the madeover platform may be underpinned by a new marketplace protocol.
Recall that OpenSea is no stranger to protocol revamps, as the company moved from its Wyvern protocol to the Seaport protocol in 2022 for more expansive and efficient NFT functionalities.
That said, a new protocol rollout next month could similarly be used to debut more advanced features or even expand into new verticals like artcoins and memecoins, broadening OpenSea's reach beyond just NFTs.
In recent years, the crypto ecosystem has largely migrated away from NFTs as expensive luxury goods in favor of approaching them as affordable and accessible digital memorabilia.
In this environment, it could make sense for OpenSea to capitalize on the fast and cheap transactions that a custom Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) can offer. A custom L2 would also pose unique design opportunities, like enshrining marketplace protocol mechanisms directly into the network.