OpenSea has made a significant resurgence, capturing 71.5% of the Ethereum NFT market share within the last week.
Just a month ago, its market share was at 25.5%, with Blur leading the sector. According to The Block, this increase aligns with OpenSea’s long-anticipated announcement of its native token, SEA, scheduled for February 13.
Following the token announcement, OpenSea’s daily trading volume has surged, averaging $17.4 million, which is nearly five times higher than its pre-announcement average of $3.47 million.
The daily transaction count has also more than doubled, rising from 6,100 to 14,700 trades. Most of this growth occurred in the past week, as OpenSea’s market share jumped from 42.4% to 71.5%, primarily at the expense of Blur.
Despite this positive momentum, OpenSea has faced challenges with its incentive program. After users raised concerns about the platform allegedly encouraging wash trading and prioritizing fee generation over genuine ecosystem engagement, it has recently paused its XP-based incentive system.
Devin Finzer, the CEO of OpenSea, acknowledged the feedback and indicated that the team is reevaluating its approach, although liquidity incentives remain essential. In lieu of the XP system, OpenSea has launched “XP shipments,” a new rewards model aimed at early adopters of its OS2 marketplace.
Users who provided feedback through Discord have already received the initial batch of XP rewards, while a second distribution is underway for those who have purchased NFTs on OS2. Additionally, XP multipliers are available for users who have held high-volume NFT collections for over three months.
While details regarding the SEA token are still sparse, OpenSea has confirmed that U.S. users are eligible for the airdrop, with allocations based on previous platform activity, potentially rewarding traders who were active during the 2021 NFT market surge.