In This NFT Mania, OpenSea Accounts for 98% of the Market Volume

The market for non-fungible tokens is experiencing an unparalleled rally, recording new milestones with each passing day. Tales of digital arts being sold and snatched up at head-scratching prices have made headlines across all media outlets, provoking everyone to wonder if this is yet another bubble.

Nevertheless, the leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has been home to almost all the market trading volume. According to Nate Chastain, head of products at OpenSea, the platform now handles 98% of all the market volume. 

OpenSea managed to process over $1 billion in transactions for the first time in late July. Prior to this, the company transacted just over $24 million for the entirety of 2020. However, with the NFT hype growing stronger each day, the company has recently exceeded $2 billion in monthly trading volume.

NFTs saw strong growth earlier this year as a number of renowned artists and famous celebrities dabbled into this emerging market and released their first piece of digital art. Numerous NFTs were sold at eye-popping prices, with an NFT by the artist Beeple being acquired for approximately $70 million, marking the most expensive NFT sold ever. 

OpenSea Desperately Needs More Staff

The team behind the leading NFT marketplace that handles around 98% of the digital art trading volume consists of just 37 people, according to Chastain. In a recent tweet, Chastain said that they need to “ramp up hiring at OpenSea.”

As of now, OpenSea has posted over 20 positions seeking promising individuals. The jobs are in a variety of categories, including business development, engineering, finance, marketing, and more. “Trying to supplement our hiring process with some guerrilla recruiting due to the pressing need for manpower,” Chastain said. 

Chastain has even assigned referral bonuses for those who can refer promising engineers or product designers to the company. “Will pay 1 ETH to anyone who connects us to engineers or designers that we hire,” he tweeted.

Currently, the weekly trading volume for NFTs is just over $600 million. In comparison, the weekly trading volume was under $20 million just three months ago.

In mid-August, the giant payments technology company Visa purchased a CryptoPunk for 49.5 Ethereum, equivalent to approximately $150,000. The purchase spurred a surge in demand and price of CryptoPunks, which were already quite popular among the crypto community.

“We felt that CryptoPunks would be a great addition to our collection of artifacts that can chart and celebrate the past, present, and future of commerce,” Visa said, commenting on the purchase.

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