NFT Users To Save Almost $580M In Yearly Fees As Opensea Launches Enhanced Web3 Protocol

On Tuesday, OpenSea announced its migration to Seaport, a new and more advanced web3 marketplace protocol designed to make NFT transactions easier and cheaper for users.

According to the announcement, the new platform will be a game-changer for NFT traders as it will help them save a substantial amount in gas fees. While a majority of fees on Open Sea went to cover gas costs under the Wyvern Protocol, the new platform is expected to slash gas fees by about 35%. OpenSea thus expects to save about $460M in total yearly gas fees on the new platform.

Further, under Seaport, new users will be exempted from paying the one-time set-up fee which was synonymous with the old Open Sea platform. “By removing the setup fee alone, the OpenSea community could save almost $120m each year (35k in ETH)” read the announcement.

However, new users may need to pay a one-time gas fee to allow Seaport to interact with their items according to the Open Sea’s website. Furthermore, first-time users who are looking to list an auction will still need to approve WETH (Wrapped ETH) for use. WETH is an ERC-20 token that allows users to make pre-authorized bids that can be fulfilled at a later date without further action from the bidder. Under the new protocol, once users have completed making the aforementioned adjustments,  they will not need to pay additional costs to list their NFTs, only a signature.

Under the new protocol, users will also be able to tip creators, and list as well make offers for NFT collections in bulk. They will also be able to make trait offers on collections with specific attributes. The open sea team also plans on launching additional features under the new platform including enabling creators to define their fees onchain on a per-item basis with multiple payout addresses.

First introduced last month, Seaport is designed not only to serve the interest of traders but to also accommodate NFT creators and builders. The protocol is on an open-source core smart contract which is inherently decentralized enabling builders to optimize their projects and unlock previously impossible use cases. For context, OpenSea will not control or operate the Seaport protocol- it will be just one, among many, building on top of this shared protocol.

Open Sea is the world’s largest Non Fungible Token “NFT” marketplace by traded volume with over 1.5 million users. Since its launch, assets worth $31.09 Billion have been traded on the platform according to data from DappRadar.