The world’s market for new investment vehicles has only sped up in the last few years. From Bitcoin’s manic rise to power to other crypto assets like Ethereum and Dogecoin creating their own stamp in the market.
While these are the baseline currencies that make up the current market, the ability to actually use any of these currencies in transactions remains slim. NFTs, or Non-fungible tokens, provide an avenue for crypto-enthusiasts to spend and invest their hard-earned cryptocurrency into other types of tradeable assets.
OpenSea is a platform that allows users to quickly purchase, make, and sell NFTs. Let’s take a quick look at OpenSea’s features and pricing.
Before you continue, you may want to watch this video by Lite Liger on YouTube that gives a quick overview. After, you’ll want to read the rest of the article for a more comprehensive review of OpenSea.
What is OpenSea? Wall Street Journal Nft
OpenSea was developed in early 2018 by Devin Finzer and Alex Attalah. Both had extensive technology backgrounds at Google and Palantir. Not only that, but they’ve also previously worked on two successful businesses, Claimdog, and hostess.fm, which have been sold to larger parent companies since their inception.
Their store of OpenSea directly follows the inception of CryptoKitiies, a 2017 crypto-asset that gave rise to what would then be developed as the modern NFT. OpenSea was built through lean collaboration and an eagerness to invest in exciting new technologies.
What is an NFT market place?
An NFT marketplace allows you to buy and sell digitally-created goods. Like any good digital asset, they’re tradeable. They can be used on different platforms but NFTs are unique because of their Blockchain-induced scarcity.
Digital goods have been plagued by scarcity for a long time due to their inherent ability to duplicate and copy any item. This makes it difficult to create digital art or other collectible memorabilia as their scarcity can only be controlled by platform controls or release limitations.
You can manage scarcity with NFTs by creating a digital token that is non-fungible. This token can be attached to your creations to verify that it is the original. This functionality has opened the gate to how people can start buying, selling, and even investing in digital art they value. Since its soft inception in 2017, NFTs have grown in size and breadth. They now offer virtual experiences, sports memorabilia and digital clothing.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
What is OpenSea Doing Differently?
OpenSea’s primary focus is its drive to put this new technology within reach of all digital creators out there. If you’re a digital artist, you can utilize the OpenSea platform and list your work without having to pay any commission or usage fees. This is similar to traditional e-commerce sites like eBay, where sellers can post items to sell regularly without paying any consignment fees.
What makes OpenSea a fantastic choice for artists and other creators is its sheer size. Since its inception, it has grown to be the largest NFT market available online, increasing the chances for interested buyers to find and invest in your work. You can even transact from your mobile device with the mobile app for iOS.
Managing said transactions is much easier with OpenSea’s Collection Manager, giving users the ability to mint and sell NFTs with no attached fees.
OpenSea has any costs?
Of course, OpenSea needs to generate revenue somehow to maintain its operations and keep the platform running. As is typical with other NFT marketplaces, OpenSea charges a percentage of the NFT’s price as an additional selling fee on top of any transaction. This additional fee is usually paid by the buyer, allowing the sellers to reap the full benefits of their price. The buyer will pay $102.5 for a $100 NFT. This is in addition to the NFT’s listed price.
Sellers can even attach an additional fee on top of the price if they deserve an artist’s fee for their work. Suppose they don’t feel like adding extra fees. They can opt for the NFTs’ built-in royalty system. This means that your NFT will continue to generate royalties at a maximum of 10% for every subsequent sale after the initial sale.
Take note, though, that, unlike other NFT marketplaces, OpenSea does not accept payment in the form of bank deposits, credit or debit cards, and Paypal. OpenSea transactions require you to have an existing wallet that is compatible with the Ethereum network. There are many wallets available, but trustWallet, MetaMask and Coinbase are some of the most popular.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
OpenSea is easy to use
OpenSea’s platform makes it easy to use. It can display bids and auction times, in different ways. You start off with a gallery page of different NFT art available. You can either purchase them using the standard auction method or opt for a more instant “Buy Now,” similar to how eBay treats its sales.
You can also follow and view different artists. Some artists may have additional biographies or anecdotes about the meaning and purpose behind their work. You can also see information on each listing’s price, offers made, and even the artist’s price history.
Open Sea also allows you to create your own NFT (a process known as NFT Minting). Click the Create function on the OpenSea homepage, and then click “Create A Collection.”
You can now design the logo, banner and other elements of your collection, as well as the name for NFT and URL layout. Make sure to include any relevant social media links and portfolios to lead prospective buyers to your other work.
Now you can set your royalties up to 10% and decide which Blockchain you want to add your NFT to (as of writing, the current Blockchain’s available are Ehtereum or Polygon). You can then designate what token you’d like to accept payment in, either EtH, WITH, DAI, or USDC. To allow buyers to pay you, you will need to verify the transaction using your wallet. Wall Street Journal Nft
Click Create to watch your collection space grow. After the collection has been set up you can add items and upload up to 100MB of your work. You can add a name and description to each item that you upload, then mark it as for sale. The NFTs cannot be stored in OpenSea, but in your wallet. Make sure your wallet can support web3!
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
How To Open An Account
To properly set up an account, you will need a wallet. This is a prerequisite to opening an OpenSea Account. However, it is easy to do.
Sign up like any other website with your email, set a password, and begin personalizing your account with a banner and your own personal bio. You can find the rubric for dimensions allowed for things like banners in the OpenSa FAQs. Wall Street Journal Nft
You used to need to verify the validity of your collection. Still, OpenSea has since removed this requirement, expanding the searchable items on their website. High-traffic profiles have the advantage of having a “verified status” (signified by a blue check) that indicates the authenticity of their account.
Is OpenSea Safe?
Safety is a concern with any crypto platform, especially when it comes to large transactions. Like all crypto transactions, OpenSea transactions are secured on the Blockchain. Specifically, Ethereum’s smart contract allows the platform to facilitate transactions instantly without any oversight from third party auditors. Wall Street Journal Nft
OpenSea is also what you would call a non-custodial marketplace. This means that OpenSea does not hold any of your crypto funds on its platform, only moving cryptocurrency from one wallet to another when a transaction takes place. All of this is possible because of the smart contracts mentioned above, which keep everything secure and verifyable.
Last words
OpenSea is an essential stop for any NFT creator or investor. The fact that it boasts the most extensive collection of NFTs currently and that it has such a simple interface for minting makes it a bit better than other marketplaces currently out there. Plus, it does have some additional checks and balances that can keep your purchases secure.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
Most Frequently Asked Questions Wall Street Journal Nft
What is an NFT?
An NFT, or Non-fungible token, acts as a certificate that you can attach to digital goods that indicate their authenticity and generates a sort of scarcity on your item. This increases the value of things and decreases the chance of inauthentic or pirated work appearing on different platforms.
It isn’t a perfect system, but it’s a system that’s allowed some digital artists to begin earning from projects they’ve previously been hardpressed to find workable solutions for.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain would be the core of the entire process of making and transacting any crypto-asset that is currently on the market. NFTs use the Ethereum blockchain most often (using their smart contracts function), but other crypto assets also have their own blockchains where their transactions take place.
Think of a blockchain as an automated leger– sustained by what’s known to be crypto miners– that can manage, record, and execute deals between parties. In traditional financial settings, this would need third parties to verify the validity of each transaction. Sure the modern age feels almost instant, but back-end operations are still comprised mainly of audits that ensure each transaction was done in good faith.
The way the Blockchain is set up is that it removes the need for third-party authenticators by having its entire transaction system revolve around the previous transactions. To defraud or duplicate trades within a blockchain, you must decouple and undo all the other transactions that succeeded. Blockchain and the crypto market in general are fascinating because they serve as stepping stones to automated transactions between parties.
Can Anyone Make an NFT?
Because it allows an art market that was previously very closed and exclusive to be opened up to potential disruptors, NFTs are known as the “people’s token”. They allow for quality artwork to be created and distributed to fans.
The best part about NFTs is that these distributions would be controlled. Each piece of art will have an NFT token attached to it, signifying it as authentic. This does mean that anyone can also label anything as their own by attaching an NFT receipt to it, regardless of how truthful they may be. But with any new technology comes its abusers, so take the good with some bad in this scenario.
OpenSea has customer support
Suppose you may need support with your OpenSea account, transactions, or other things related to the platform. You can send an email directly to support@opensea.io in this case. Make sure to include in the email a subject line indicating the nature of your problem and any particulars about your account. You can also use their ticket system, and they can be the ones to email you instead.
You may find the FAQs useful if you are having simple problems. You might find the answer in one of their many entries.