OpenSea Launches New NFT Marketplace Aggregator to Combat Rival Blur

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) giant, OpenSea has just launched “OpenSea Pro”, its new NFT marketplace aggregator with more advanced technology including zero marketplace fees and NFT-based trading rewards.

In the expeditious world of digital artworks, NFT marketplace Blur has been dominating trading volumes. Recently, this upcoming NFT marketplace and aggregator managed to de-throne OpenSea which has long been the most popular marketplace for digital collectibles over a long period of time.

As per DappRadar, Blur’s trading volume exploded in the recent few months with a staggering $1.35 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) NFT trades in March, following the launch of its BLUR reward token. In order to combat this rising star, OpenSea rolled out its new initiative aimed at serving the needs of professional users.

OpenSea Unveils New Offering

On April 4, OpenSea took to Twitter to unveil its new offering dubbed as “OpenSea Pro”. that aims to offer a suite of improved features allowing users to discover the best deals and insights across 170 marketplaces including notable platforms like Blur, LooksRare, and X2Y2. In addition, the newly launched platform boasts of robust trading tools than the standard version along with a temporary 0% fee for traders.

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves

Starting today, Gem V2, the best-in-class NFT aggregator, is now OpenSea Pro!

OpenSea Pro will still be run by the same Gem team you know & love, but with unified brands we are able to offer users MUCH more

Let's dive in pic.twitter.com/pyt6QnjW7b

— OpenSea Pro (@openseapro) April 4, 2023

OpenSea Pro has also introduced an “advanced orders” feature that will let users to “sweep across the deepest liquidity of any NFT marketplace aggregator,” giving users more control over their purchases. Furthemore, to make it an ideal choice of users on the go, OpenSea Pro will be optimised for mobile devices allowing users to browse, sweep and list from their phones.

As per the its Twitter thread, OpenSea stated the new platform is a rebranded and expanded version of Gem V2, the upgraded version of the NFT marketplace aggregator that it acquired last year. OpenSea Pro tweeted,

“OpenSea Pro will still be run by the same Gem team you know & love, but with unified brands we are able to offer users much more.”

NFTs Make a Comeback

This comes at a time when NFT sales topped more than $2 billion in total trading volume. Market-wide data from DappRadar, supplemented with additional on-chain data from Dune, points to just over $1.95 billion worth of trading volume in March, down about 4% from the February total of $2.04 billion.

After a disastrous 2022, the NFT market is slowly recuperating lost grounds with trading volumes up for three consecutive months. NFT trading volume recorded a whopping 117% increase from January to February, reaching $2 billion for the first time since May 2022.