The platform is embracing cross-chain trading, launching an airdrop, and slashing fees as part of its ambitious overhaul.

The OpenSea Foundation has officially announced the upcoming launch of the SEA token, a long-speculated digital asset designed to reward the marketplace’s most active, loyal, and historical users. This marks a significant milestone for OpenSea as it seeks to reclaim dominance in the NFT ecosystem while reinforcing its commitment to decentralization and interoperability.

While specific details about token distribution remain undisclosed, the OpenSea Foundation confirmed that the airdrop will not require know your customer (KYC) verification, and U.S. users will be eligible to participate. 

The OpenSea Beta is Live, Source: X

A Long-Awaited Move

For years, OpenSea users have speculated about a token launch—particularly during the NFT market’s meteoric rise in 2021 and 2022. However, OpenSea remained resistant to the trend, even as competitors like Blur and Magic Eden leveraged token incentives to attract traders.

The speculation intensified in December when the OpenSea Foundation was registered in the Cayman Islands, often a precursor to token launches in the crypto space. Now, the SEA token is confirmed, arriving alongside OpenSea’s OS2 relaunch, a sweeping upgrade that includes support for over a dozen blockchains, fungible token trading, an XP rewards system, and an overhauled user experience.

Why Now?

According to OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer, the decision to launch SEA stems from a broader effort to redefine OpenSea’s identity and reinforce its role in Web3.

“We took a step back with this rebuild and said: We want to build long-term for our community. We want to be much more crypto-native,” Finzer told Decrypt. “We want to really have a platform that feels and lives and breathes Web3, and having a token as part of that felt like the right thing to do for our users and the participants of the NFT ecosystem over the long haul.”

The SEA token is designed to foster community engagement, mirroring past crypto airdrops. However, Finzer acknowledges the challenge: while token rewards can generate short-term excitement, many past airdrops—like Blur’s—have struggled to maintain long-term value.

“If you don’t have a product that people love, and you don’t have a real community, then a token is going to be a short-term thing,” Finzer added. “But if you continue investing in the product and make the token a key ingredient in the future of the platform, then you can take a much more long-term approach.”

$SEA is coming, but no details on timing, Source: X

OpenSea’s Identity Crisis and the Road to Reinvention

OpenSea once dominated the NFT market, commanding the lion’s share of Ethereum-based NFT trading. In early 2022, the company soared to a $13.3 billion valuation following massive venture capital investments. However, as NFT demand waned and competitors emerged, OpenSea lost ground. According to Tiexo data, OpenSea’s market share for Ethereum NFT trading has shrunk to around 30%, while Blur has surged ahead with 62% over the past six months.

Facing this existential crisis, OpenSea made a conscious pivot back to its crypto-native roots, embracing a leaner Web3 team and refocusing on product innovation. This shift also comes after OpenSea laid off 56% of its workforce following a Wells Notice from the SEC in August 2024, which raised concerns over potential unregistered securities on the platform.

“In the bull market, we became far too Web2,” Finzer admitted. “Now we’re really leaning into a small, lean Web3, crypto-native team as we roll out this new product.”

This transformation aligns with a broader trend among Web3-native brands like Yuga Labs (the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club) and Doodles, which have also sought to rekindle their communities by shedding the corporate polish that came with rapid expansion.

The Bigger Picture: OpenSea’s Bet on a Multi-Token Future

With OS2, OpenSea isn’t just revamping its marketplace—it’s evolving into a broader trading platform that supports fungible tokens alongside NFTs. Finzer describes it as a “reimagining of every surface of OpenSea,” built with the intention of uniting all kinds of tokenized assets in one place.

The upgrade introduces cross-chain NFT purchases, allowing users to buy a Solana NFT using a non-Solana payment method. OpenSea is also aggressively cutting fees: marketplace fees are dropping to 0.5%, and swap fees will be eliminated entirely for the OS2 Open Beta.

Despite these moves, the numbers paint a stark reality. At its peak on May 1, 2022, OpenSea facilitated $476 million in daily trading volume, largely driven by the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherdeed metaverse land launch. Today, volumes have plummeted 98% and rarely exceed single-digit millions. In January 2022, OpenSea boasted over 5 million monthly NFT sales, but by January 2025, that figure had declined 80%. Royalty fees, once a major revenue stream at $268 million per month, failed to reach even $4 million last month.

The Road Ahead: Can OpenSea Reclaim Its Throne?

While OpenSea’s SEA token launch will inevitably attract speculators and airdrop hunters, the company’s real challenge lies in making the token a sustainable and integral part of its platform. The NFT space has already seen multiple examples of hype-fueled tokens that failed to sustain long-term value, and OpenSea will need to demonstrate that SEA is more than just another short-lived trading incentive. There’s also the question of Ethereum, which has struggled to communicate a coherent narrative in 2025.

The main problem is that OpenSea is battling a shift in trader behavior, where many now prefer fungible meme coins over NFTs.

As OpenSea embarks on this ambitious overhaul, it’s clear that the company isn’t just looking to survive the crypto bear market—it wants to define the next era of NFT and tokenized asset trading.

“Now with this launch, we’re going to show the world who we are,” Finzer said. “It’s the biggest moment in our history, but it’s also just the beginning.”