OpenSea has become the dominant decentralized platform for users who want to shape, buy, sell and trade NFTs. The platform now functions as an aggregator and NFT gallery. According to data from Dune Analytics, OpenSea reached in December 2021 alone Dimensions Transactions of $ 3.25 billion with total trading volume up 90.968% over the past year.

Controversy and criticism are not alien, OpenSea has its fair share of the risks and pitfalls of entering the market. Most notably, product manager Nate Chastain was caught using inside information to step up to the top and profit from the sale of NFTs on the platform’s homepage.

In addition to the lack of trust, the community feels devalued after the newly appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brian Roberts hinted at a stock exchange listing. However, he quickly stated that OpenSea had no intention of implementing this issue anytime soon.

OpenSea may be the leading NFT marketplace right now by trading volume, but in 2022 there will certainly be a number of competitors capable of overtaking it.

Here are 5 NFT markets that are likely to beat the top contender in the months ahead.

Coinbase NFT

Coinbase appears to be using factors of centralization as the main driver for mass adoption. The exchange took advantage of the growing popularity of NFT and launched the Coinbase NFT marketplace. According to the report, the whitelist has exceeded 1.1 million, more than OpenSea’s total active user base.

Number of monthly active traders at OpenSea | Source: Dune Analytics

The announcement of the launch of Coinbase NFT is a signal of the growing value NFTs can achieve as digital collections continue to become mainstream in 2022. The project has establish Partnerships with collections like World of Women, DeadFellaz and Lazy Lions.

While the market has not yet been launched, the waiting list alone suggests that many investors are eager to get closer to the technology or are looking for a new NFT trading market.

According to the exchange, Coinbase NFT will be peer-to-peer (P2P), with an intuitive design built on a decentralized marketplace. The market will initially follow the ERC-21 and ERC-1155 standards, and there are plans to support multi-chain in the future as well.

Coinbase NFT will primarily act as a marketplace for exchanges, but the company has indicated that it will act as a place to “nurture connections” as well. To date, Coinbase operates in more than 100 countries with over 73 million active users, while Coinbase customers have generated very good liquidity with a quarterly trading volume of $ 327 billion.

Coinbase also introduced a powerful user experience (UX) and seamless, streamlined and easy to use interface design (UI). Although many people complain about the OpenSea UX / UI design, many other platforms have access barriers while OpenSea doesn’t.

FTX NFT

Unlike Coinbase NFT, the FTX marketplace started with a small collection of Solana-based NFTs in October and has since expanded its collection to include the Ethereum blockchain. In contrast to OpenSea and Coinbase NFT, FTX NFT is not a P2P platform. It works centrally and stored, whereby user data is recorded and stored in its network. This means that in some cases, users and buyers have to give up ownership.

As a centralized platform, owners of the FTX NFT will have fewer autonomy privileges and more restrictions due to concerns in securities law. In contrast to OpenSea, where users have full autonomy over their digital assets until they are sold, FTX NFT implements a bidding mechanism. As Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US stated, the exchange sees more price action on the platform as there are no gas fees for executing the bids. This attracts a higher level of liquidity.

However, compliance with the law has resulted in affect So much so that since the FTX NFT announced that it was no longer granting too many privileges to its owners, many people have had to deduct royalties.

At the same time, with concerns about US regulation, projects in the Ethereum network are also being checked to see whether they comply with securities laws and are not falsified. As such, OpenSea retains its merit in maintaining a large number of NFT collections.

Other than its minor weaknesses, the market moved into the spotlight, beating Coinbase NFT on the fee structure. FTX NFT has a 2% fee structure while Coinbase is 2.5%.

The platform doesn’t seem to deny users an unprotected wallet either.

Rarely

Long before OpenSea began its massive growth, Rarible had a market-leading monthly trading volume. Despite expanding its platform to include the community with the RARI governance token, which OpenSea users have come to expect, Rarible was unable to maintain its lead.

In November, the platform’s total trading volume was 4% higher than in October, averaging $ 18.2 million. However, the total monthly volume is less than that of OpenSea.

Like the FTX NFT marketplace, the platform understands the benefits of strategic collaboration with multiple chains. Rarible has implemented NFT support on the Flow and Tezos blockchains and plans to support Solana and Polygon in the near future.

Trading volume on primary and secondary markets | Source: Dune Analytics

With its decentralized nature and NFT multi-chain support, Rarible could become an OpenSea heavyweight by 2022.

Zora

Zora imagine yourself is the champion of Web 3.0 and decentralization as a fully open (license-free) on-chain platform. Because Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) tend to grow on these principles, the platform retains its value on purchases such as PleasrDAO’s $ 4 million purchase of NFT Dogemem.

Zora has a toll-free structure and mainly focuses on being the first open protocol on the market. Many crypto experts are intrigued by the idea that artists and creators have more autonomy and ownership over their works. If these interests continue to grow in 2022, Zora could win many new users.

Magical Eden

Magic Eden is currently the top NFT marketplace in the Solana network and, according to DappRadar, is currently the top 10 NFT marketplace with a trading volume of $ 380 million since its launch in mid-September 2021.

Magic Eden is currently the top 10 NFT market | Source: DappRadar

The number of unique wallets has grown steadily over the past two months, making them a strong contender for OpenSea. As a result, although a user can have multiple wallet addresses, the number of unique users may be fewer.

OpenSea on-chain data | Source: DappRadar

The low transaction fees of 2% give the platform a competitive advantage over other markets and, like FTX NFT, users are listed for free. As shown below, the number of transactions on Magic Eden is often twice or even three times the number of transactions that take place on OpenSea.

Magic Eden on-chain data | Source: DappRadar

Although Magic Eden has a higher number of transactions, the volume per transaction on OpenSea is lower. According to DappRadar, Magic Eden has collected more than 4.5 million transactions in the last 30 days, while OpenSea has processed less than half that number with 1.7 million. However, the total transaction volume from OpenSea is five times that of Magic Eden.

As the NFT market grows and digital collections continue to become mainstream, by 2022 large numbers of users may be “no longer interested” in OpenSea. By improving accessibility, regulation, and better user experience, these 5 NFT markets are strong contenders for the top spot.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, not investment advice. Investors should research carefully before making a decision. We are not responsible for your investment decisions.

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