OpenSea Goes Mobile
The largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea has launched its first mobile app for IOS and Android users.
OpenSea’s debut app offers users a way to browse artwork, share listings and view trading histories. Users can connect their current profile and browse through new NFT collections with access to stats. They can also favourite and filter NFT searches based on criteria such as category, collection, name and creator. The app will also link to blog posts about exclusive releases and the NFT ecosystem as a whole. Currently, users cannot actually purchase NFTs through OpenSea’s app.
This can be due to a number of reasons the most probable of which being that OpenSea might not want to share a 30% cut of NFT transactions with Apple and Google. Another issue is that OpenSea’s payments are frequently in Ethereum, which as of yet isn’t supported as an in-app payment method on either platform.
The app rollout comes at a questionable time for the digital collectable marketplace, following news that its head of product Nate Chastain was asked to resign after allegations emerged that he participated in an NFT insider trading scheme. OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer tweeted an apology to users on Wednesday:
“We’re conducting a thorough review of yesterday’s incident and are committed to doing the right thing for OpenSea users.”
In a statement to CNBC via email, Finzer wrote: “I was incredibly disappointed by the news and this behaviour does not represent our values at OpenSea. We are working with an outside law firm to conduct an internal review.”
The company has since said it now explicitly prohibits employees from “using confidential information to purchase or sell any NFTs, whether available on the OpenSea platform or not.”
OpenSea has been riding the current wave of interest in non-fungible tokens, generating $3.4 billion in trading volume across two million transactions in August, tripling activity from July. The company has since seen a drop in daily trading volume since its peak in late August however the app’s launch is anticipated to build on the company’s momentum.
For co-founders Finzer and Alex Atallah, as well as others in the space, the excitement resides in what’s still possible. Finzer told CNBC, “We are bringing a new technology to a mainstream audience. The company is focused on bringing consumers an experience that’s quick, easy, and really fun at the end of the day.”
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