Good News: OpenSea launches protocol to trade more types of tokens
2 min read
The OpenSea platform released a new protocol, titled Seaport, on May 20. According to announcement, Seaport aims to trade new types of tokens within the ETH network. All developers, content creators and collectors will be able to enjoy the news.
Seaport is taking a different approach to the standard NFT trading model. First, it seeks to facilitate agreements between seller and buyer. The platform will also offer collections in various formats. In addition to the popular ERC-721 – the standard used in NFTs – sellers can offer items in ERC-20, ERC-721 or ERC-1155 format.
This process will be automated and governed by the decentralized smart contract, according to the announcement.
“Every seaport listing consists of the same basic structure, including an EIP-712 signature enhanced payload. This subscription clearly outlines what can be spent and what will be received back by whom,” the platform said.
Automated NFT Marketplace
The announcement explained how Seaport will facilitate transactions. According to OpenSea, the new system eliminates redundant transfers and will facilitate “new and efficient transactions”.
In this sense, redundant transactions consume a greater amount of fees (gas), which congests the network. Congestion, in turn, prevents transactions from being approved quickly.
Along with rate optimization, Seaport brings other functions. Among them are “zones” and “channels” that improve the transaction process, enable exchange, and prevent abuse of the system.
Seaport also supports “Tipping”, which allows alternative interfaces to include their own rates and facilitate dynamic listings. In practice, there is greater competition between rates, benefiting the user.
Finally, OpenSea stressed that the platform is completely open source. That is, anyone can build their applications within Seaport.
“OpenSea does not control or operate the Seaport protocol. We will be just one of many, building applications on top of this shared protocol.”
Seaport has been audited by OpenZeppelin and they are also starting a two-week audit contest with Code4rena. This contest will give a prize of $1 million to anyone who finds flaws in the protocol.
NFT Ecosystem
The NFT market has also suffered from cryptocurrency losses as a whole. According to data explorer Nonfungible, dollar sales figures are down 67% in the last 20 days. From over $60 million a day in early May, the figure reached $25 million on the 20th.
The number of sales was over 100,000 a day at the beginning of the month, but it also dropped sharply. Until last week, an average of just 23,000 NFTs were being traded per day.
Cryptoslam reports that the Bored Apes-linked NFT collection Otherdeed has been the most popular over the past seven days, with around $27 million in secondary sales over the period.
