The battle for NFT marketplace dominance rages on, despite altogether less coverage owing to the ongoing slump in NFT volumes and activity across the board.
OpenSea has recently announced its support for NFTs hosted on yet another Eth-L2, this time in the form of Zora's optimistic roll-up L2.
Zora is especially apt for support, owing to its original NFT-focused vision. However, its integration forms part of the larger contest for NFT volumes taking place between, predominantly, OpenSea and Blur.
Blur surged to power on the back of a compelling airdrop campaign in Q4 '22 and Q1 '23, and, though its marketshare is below all-time highs of ~77%, it remains the major player, dwarfing OpenSea dominance of 33% at time of writing.
What is exciting about the sudden increase in NFT marketplace competition is its impact on offerings to the end-user. Shortly after Blur's rise, OpenSea launched its 'Pro' trading version, to largely positive response, and updates haven't stopped there.
Emerging markets, like Web3 and NFTs, can sometimes give rise to monopolistic tendencies, which in turns creates a limited offering to the consumer. This was true of NFT marketplaces but is now beginning to wane.
Wherever NFT marketplace volumes sit in the future, it is likely that the biggest winner is the consumer, and that is precisely what the vertical needs.
