Finzer unveils OpenSea 2.0, downplays Bitcoin as an option

Devin Finzer, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of OpenSea, has said that they are working on OpenSea 2.0. Additionally, Devin has highlighted that they have all the possible intentions of sticking to Ethereum since it comes with better speed and a more economical cost. While he has not directly played down Bitcoin, Devin was vocal in saying that Bitcoin will potentially limit the use cases to art-type against more diverse stuff.

The statement comes against the backdrop of the growing popularity of NFTs. There was a drop in the industry, evidenced by a slip in total sales volume. Reports have cited that sales volume was down to $8.7 billion amid the slowdown in 2023.

Tables have turned in the last 30 days as the NFT sphere attempts to come back. Per reports, the transaction volume for the concluding quarter was better than in previous quarters. December alone registered a transaction volume of $1.775 billion. The same amount between the previous two months, October and November, was $918 million.

Bitcoin has been leading the charge for the NFT industry. Transaction volume for NFTs on the network was approximately $692 million in the last 30 days. On the other hand, Ethereum marked a figure of $320 million.

There is a growing popularity of chains for NFTs. Solana NFTs and Ordinals are among the top contenders, but Ethereum lags behind despite better numbers in USD sales.

Nevertheless, Devin is confident about what Ethereum brings to the table—economic cost and better speed. That enables developers to come up with applications falling under a broader category in the ecosystem.

Another aspect that Devin has played down is that OpenSea is starting to fall behind in the market. New players like OKX NFT and Blur have overtaken the marketplace, creating space for more marketplaces to enter. Devin has said that he is aware of this fact but is unaffected by it because transaction volume can be misleading at times. He has said this and justified the statement by elaborating that the marketplace often incentivizes traders with their native tokens in the form of a reward.

OpenSea 2.0 is now being worked on. Devin has said that it would be an upgraded version of the NFT marketplace, with NFTs listed on the platform based on use cases instead of transaction volume. The objective is to have a marketplace that has an interface that suits every type of use case

Devin Finzer’s support for the Ethereum network could be one of the many reasons why the network’s native token is sustaining above the $2.5k mark in the market. While there is no report of a market crash, both dominating tokens seem to be struggling to keep up with the momentum sparked after Bitcoin ETF applications’ approval. BTC is way below the $43k mark, while ETH sits comfortably above the $2.5k milestone.