OpenSea released an app — but it’s for browsing, not buying and selling
It's a big day for the Amazon of the decentralized internet - OpenSea now has an app for iOS and Android. For most companies, having a mobile app is a milestone you'd reach before hitting a $1.5 billion valuation. But like any store - whether you're selling NFT art or not - there's a hefty price to pay for app store transactions, whether you're on Android or iOS. That's possibly why OpenSea's shiny, new app is only for browsing NFTs, not for buying or selling them. For context, OpenSea saw $3.4 billion in trading volume across two million transactions in August. With Apple and Google taking 30% of in-app transactions, if that volume had been traded on the new app... what's 30% of $3.4 billion?
Perhaps more of a roadblock, there's still no way to make in-app payments with crypto. If OpenSea wanted to support buying and selling, it would have to build out its infrastructure for USD payments and push more users toward it. But part of the appeal of OpenSea is that it's a crypto-native platform, largely reliant on the Ethereum blockchain, which gives people easier access to information about when an NFT was minted, who minted it, how it's been traded, etc. It could upset the existing ecosystem of users if the startup pushed the platform toward being more dollar-friendly.
On the OpenSea app, users can connect their profile, browse NFTs, favorite NFTs, search and filter NFTs and view collection and item stats. When you view an NFT in the app, a button appears that lets you share the NFT outside of the app. Rarible, another NFT marketplace, released a mobile app about a month ago. Like OpenSea's app, on the Rarible app, you can only browse NFTs, not buy, sell or trade them.
Image Credits: OpenSea
OpenSea hasn't yet responded to questions from TechCrunch about the company's plans for the app, including whether or not users might one day be able to buy and sell NFTs in the app. It wouldn't be the first time that crypto was exchanged on an app, as even PayPal now lets you pay with crypto. Instead, perhaps the app can offer a way to help new users onboard into the NFT space, giving them an easy, user-friendly way to browse NFT art without knowing anything about wallets or blockchains or apes.
This app was unveiled just days after an OpenSea executive was accused of trading NFTs on insider information. The company announced on its blog Wednesday that the employee has since resigned.