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OpenSea has turned up the heat in its rivalry with NFT platform Blur by launching OpenSea Pro.
Offering zero marketplace fees whilst aggregating NFT listings, OpenSea operates as a separate product to its current marketplace. Listings are pulled from over 170 NFT marketplaces including Blur, LooksRare and X2Y2.
The new product is rebranded from NFT marketplace aggregator Gem V2, which OpenSea acquired in April 2022. CEO Devin Finzer said the purchase was designed to acquire “more experienced, ‘pro’ users.”
OpenSea Pro will offer the 0% trader fee, and will inherit the current platform's model of requiring only a 0.5% minimum royalty on projects, giving sellers the option to pay more than 0.5% if they wish.
It will also support advanced floor sweeping, optimize gas fees for trades, and will feature a watchlist.
Finzer praised Gem's involvement in building OpenSea Pro. “[Gem v1] is amazing, you know, it’s an incredible aggregator tool, but this is really a dramatic step up from it,” Finzer told CoinDesk. “It's incredibly fast, incredibly real time. It’s really the fastest user experience for purchasing NFTs.”
Cryptpop Rivalry pt2
OpenSea has felt the pressure from competitors, and has thus far reacted quickly. In February, announced it would temporarily eliminate its 2.5% fee on sales, as well as making creator earnings optional. The move was a direct response to Blur's rapidly increasing popularity.
Read more: OpenSea Offers Zero NFT Fees Following Blur Competition
At the time, OpenSea made no attempt to hide its Blur threat. Opensea tweeted that "Blur’s decision to roll back creator earnings (even on filtered collections) and the false choice they’re forcing creators to make between liquidity on Blur or OpenSea – prove that our attempts are not working" was a reason for its fee cut.
5/ Recent events – including Blur’s decision to roll back creator earnings (even on filtered collections) and the false choice they’re forcing creators to make between liquidity on Blur or OpenSea – prove that our attempts are not working.
— OpenSea (@opensea) February 17, 2023
Blur quickly caught the attention of the NFT world after releasing its native token BLUR. Some 100,000 NFT traders were airdropped the token. One day later, its trading volume surpassed OpenSea's for the first time since its launch in October.
Read more: Warner Music Saves Web3 Jobs as Disney Cuts Metaverse Positions
Blur continues to grow in popularity. Over the past seven days, Blur's trading volume jumped by 40.36% to $279.51 million. OpenSea had a measly $8.34 million over the same period, down by almost 20%.
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