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OpenSea
NFT marketplace· founded 2017

What Is OpenSea? How the NFT and Token Marketplace Works

OpenSea is a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs and, since its 2025 OS2 relaunch, for fungible tokens too. You connect your own crypto wallet, and trades settle on public blockchains. OpenSea does not hold your assets 1. It supports 22 blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, Polygon and Solana 4. Its main charges are a 1% fee on NFT sales and 0.5% on token swaps 2. OpenSea is owned and operated by Ozone Networks, Inc. Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah founded it in December 2017 110.

Facts checked 12 cited sources No score on this page, no affiliate links

At a glance

Service type
Non-custodial NFT and token marketplace; perps via Hyperliquid 15
Operator
Ozone Networks, Inc., d/b/a OpenSea (New York law; Miami notice address) 1
Founded
December 2017 by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah 10
Main fees (Oct 23, 2026)
1% NFT sales · 10% primary mints · 0.5% swaps · 0.01% perps 2
Blockchains
22, including Ethereum, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Solana 4
Eligibility
18+; not for sanctioned countries or persons 1
Token
SEA planned; launch postponed in March 2026 7
Official site
opensea.io (help: support.opensea.io)
Updated
October 23, 2026

Who owns OpenSea

The OpenSea Terms of Service name Ozone Networks, Inc. as owner and operator, doing business as OpenSea 1. Finzer and Atallah founded the company in late 2017. It grew with the 2021 NFT boom: a January 2022 Series C raised $300 million at a reported $13.3 billion valuation 10.

The years after the boom were turbulent:

  • 2022 retrenchment: OpenSea cut about 20% of staff in July 2022 10.
  • Chastain case: former product head Nate Chastain was convicted of wire fraud in May 2023 over trading ahead of homepage features. An appeals court overturned the conviction in July 2025 10.
  • SEC probe: the SEC sent OpenSea a Wells notice in August 2024, signaling a possible case over NFTs as securities. It closed the investigation without action in February 2025 11.
  • Acquisitions: OpenSea bought Dharma (January 2022), the aggregator Gem (April 2022) and the Rally wallet app (July 2025) 10.

OpenSea is a private company. It has no publicly traded stock.

How buying and selling works

OpenSea is not a wallet or exchange. It prepares orders, and you sign them in your own wallet, such as MetaMask or Phantom 1. The help center also describes signing up with an email.

  • Listing an NFT: on Ethereum and other EVM chains this needs a one-time approval transaction per collection. After that, listings and offers are gasless signatures 2.
  • Buying: the buyer submits the transaction and pays gas. When a seller accepts an offer, the seller pays gas 2.
  • Solana: works differently. You pay a SOL network fee plus a refundable account deposit when you create a listing or offer 3.
  • Mobile: OpenSea also has a mobile app 1.

OS2 extends the same flow beyond NFTs:

  • Token swaps: routed through third-party liquidity providers. These can include stock tokens on Robinhood Chain, which are issued by Robinhood Europe and are not shares 9.
  • Perpetual futures: orders are signed in your wallet and executed on Hyperliquid 5.

Developers can use OpenSea's APIs under the same terms 1.

Fees and total cost

OpenSea's fee schedule on October 23, 2026 2:

Action OpenSea fee Who pays / notes
NFT secondary sale 1% Built into the price shown to the buyer, so it comes out of the seller's proceeds
NFT mint in a primary drop 10% Charged on the mint
Token swap 0.5% 10% off with a referral code; swap providers may add their own fee
Perps trade 0.01% On top of Hyperliquid's trading fees
Private listing 0% Required creator earnings and gas still apply

Three other costs sit on top 23:

  • Creator earnings: each collection sets these as either required or optional. If optional, the seller decides whether to pay them.
  • Gas: paid to the network, not OpenSea. If a transaction fails, OpenSea charges no fee, but the gas is lost.
  • Solana: the buyer pays creator earnings on top of the item price.

Fees changed several times in 2026. Swap fees were 0% for 60 days from March 31, 2026, and OpenSea said a new fee system would follow 6. Check the help article before large trades.

Eligibility and restrictions

You must be 18 or older. Teens aged 13 to 18 (16 to 18 in the European Economic Area) may use OpenSea only through a supervising parent's account 1. People in, or organized under, U.S.-sanctioned countries are barred, as are sanctioned persons 1. Disputes go to individual arbitration under New York law, and the terms include a class-action waiver 1. Perps are being rolled out in phases and are not available to everyone 5.

SEA token and rewards

OpenSea announced a SEA token in 2025. It ran "Voyages" and Treasure-chest reward waves, funded in part by 50% of platform fees from NFT purchases and swaps 6. The token generation event set for March 30, 2026 was postponed with no new date. The OpenSea Foundation cited market conditions 7. The reward waves ended with Wave 6 on March 30, 2026. Users from earlier seasons could take an optional refund of fees paid if they gave up their accumulated Treasure 67.

Any message offering an "OpenSea airdrop" claim link should be treated as phishing unless OpenSea's official channels confirm it (crypto phishing).

Security, scams and stolen items

Because OpenSea is non-custodial, most losses on the platform come from users signing malicious approvals or listings, not from OpenSea holding funds. OpenSea says it will never DM you first or ask you to send funds to fix a "failed" sale 2.

If NFTs are stolen, OpenSea will freeze trading of those items on its platform when you file a police report. The freeze lasts 90 days. Afterward the items are re-enabled with a "disputed ownership" label for up to 12 months 8. This does not reverse the on-chain theft. For context and a scored comparison, see the NFT marketplace ratings.

Incident record

1 partly recovered4 outcome unclear

A UI and listing bug let buyers purchase NFTs at old, below-market listing prices (DefiLlama: "withdrawal logic flaw")

Jan 2022outcome unclear
Outcome
Users compensated
Loss
~$1M (DefiLlama)
Recovered or reimbursed
OpenSea reimbursed ~$1.8M to affected users
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Phishing attack abused signed Wyvern-protocol orders to steal NFTs

Feb 19–20, 2022partly recovered
Outcome
Partial. OpenSea said 17 users were directly affected
Loss
~$1.7M–$2.0M (estimates differ)
Recovered or reimbursed
Not fully recovered
Source: en.wikipedia.org

An employee of email vendor Customer.io leaked OpenSea users' email addresses

Jun 30, 2022outcome unclear
Outcome
Data exposure; raised phishing risk
Loss
1.8M emails exposed; no funds directly
Recovered or reimbursed
n/a
Source: en.wikipedia.org

SEC Wells notice over NFTs as securities

Aug 2024 – Feb 2025outcome unclear
Outcome
Closed without action, Feb 2025
Loss
—
Recovered or reimbursed
—
Source: cointelegraph.com

Ex-employee insider-trading prosecution

May 2023 – Jul 2025outcome unclear
Outcome
Conviction overturned on appeal, Jul 2025
Loss
—
Recovered or reimbursed
—
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Hacks in DefiLlama’s public database are also scored as the security record on the OpenSea rating page.

Questions about OpenSea

Does OpenSea have its own wallet?
No. You connect a self-custody wallet, and OpenSea never holds your assets 1.
Can I buy OpenSea stock?
No. Ozone Networks is privately held, and there is no OpenSea stock to buy 10.
Has the SEA token launched?
The last announced launch date, March 30, 2026, was postponed with no new date 7. Check OpenSea's official channels for any later announcement.
How much does OpenSea charge to sell an NFT?
1% of the sale price, plus any creator earnings and gas where the seller submits the transaction 2.
Where can I see how CoinPulse evaluates OpenSea?

OpenSea elsewhere on CoinPulse

Sources

  1. 1OpenSea, Platform Terms of Service (updated Oct 20, 2026) —opensea.io
  2. 2OpenSea Help Center, What fees do I pay on OpenSea? (updated Oct 23, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  3. 3OpenSea Help Center, What fees do I pay on a Solana purchase or sale? (Sep 2, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  4. 4OpenSea Help Center, Which blockchains are compatible with OpenSea? —support.opensea.io
  5. 5OpenSea Help Center, What are perpetuals on OpenSea? (May 27, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  6. 6OpenSea Help Center, How does OpenSea's rewards program work? (May 27, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  7. 7The Defiant, "OpenSea Delays Token Launch Again, Citing Market Conditions" (Mar 17, 2026) —thedefiant.io
  8. 8OpenSea Help Center, Stolen item policy (Jul 27, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  9. 9OpenSea Help Center, What are Stock Tokens on OpenSea? (Jul 17, 2026) —support.opensea.io
  10. 10Wikipedia, OpenSea —en.wikipedia.org
  11. 11Cointelegraph, "SEC closes investigation into NFT platform OpenSea" (Feb 22, 2025) —cointelegraph.com
  12. 12DefiLlama, Hacks database —defillama.com

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What changed on this page

  • 2026-10-23Profile created.
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