OpenSea Ceases Supporting BNB Smart Chain, Here's Why

OpenSea, the first mainstream marketplace for non-fungible tokens, is losing its share of the market. A series of strategic decisions in August 2023 might improve its positions. So far, the marketplace shortened the list of supported blockchains and radically adjusted its royalties policy.

OpenSea stops accepting BSC-based NFTs: Statement

Starting from Aug. 18, 2023, users of OpenSea will no longer be able to create new listings for or make new offers on non-fungible tokens issued on top of BNB Smart Chain, a programmable blockchain by the largest CEX Binance (BNB). This decision was announced by the OpenSea team on its official Twitter account.

Last year we added several chains, including BNB Smart Chain (BSC), after seeing excitement from the wider NFT ecosystem.

But as our space evolves, we need to align resources with the most promising efforts. We've decided the cost to continue supporting BSC outweighs the impact.

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— OpenSea (@opensea) August 18, 2023

At the same time, OpenSea is not leaving BNB Smart Chain completely. Users will still be able to view, discover and transfer BSC NFTs on OpenSea. Regarding the reasons for such a radical step, the OpenSea team admitted that continued support of BSC would not be resource-efficient in the long run:

Last year we added several chains, including BNB Smart Chain (BSC), after seeing excitement from the wider NFT ecosystem. But as our space evolves, we need to align resources with the most promising efforts. We've decided the cost to continue supporting BSC outweighs the impact

However, the OpenSea team stressed its commitment to building multi-chain systems. Recently, it added support for Base, a novel Coinbase L2 platform on Ethereum (ETH), and Zora, an NFT-focused blockchain. Both Base and Zora are developed on OP Stack, an Optimism open source framework.

OpenSea was one of the first multi-blockchain marketplaces in Web3 history. It works on Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and Klaytn, according to the DappRadar tracker.

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As covered by U.Today previously, in 2023, the Blur marketplace dethroned OpenSea from its leading position in the NFT trading platforms race.

OpenSea's royalties policy upgrade faces backlash

Amid the painful drop in NFT trading volume that stole over 90% of its turnover, Blur remains the only platform that sees all its metrics rocketing.

Besides removing BSC support, OpenSea also adjusted its royalties policy. Starting from Aug. 31, 2023, the platform will remove the Operator Filter and make royalties optional for all newly-created collections.

This reform was met with adamant criticism from some of the industry heavyweights. For instance, OpenSea investor Marc Cuban called the update "a huge mistake."

Not collecting and paying royalties on NFT sales is a HUGE mistake by @opensea. It diminished trust in the platform and hurts the industry. And I say this as an @opensea investor @DevinFinzer

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 18, 2023

Some NFT development studios shared plans to sunset their collections on OpenSea due to the new fees policy.