OpenSea is one of the most known marketplaces for NFTs. Even though you likely heard of it this year, OpenSea was founded back in 2017 by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah. The brand launched on the domain name OpenSea.io. The .io domain name extension is the country code for the British Indian Ocean Territory. It has enjoyed wide popularity in recent years with technology companies but has also been the topic of scandals and faces uncertain future according to many experts in the space.
OpenSea peaked in popularity this year with the NFTs exploding globally – in February 2021 sales were reached US $ 95 million, in March – US $ 147 million and in September US $ 2.75 billion.
The domain name OpenSea.com was originally registered in 2002. There was a recorded sale on Afternic in 2015, as a former asset of Marchex.
In October 2021 the domain name OpenSea.com was listed in a Sedo auction. It didn’t meet the reserve price at the auction. We can’t really tell for sure what happened after that, but what one thing is for sure – today OpenSea.com points to OpenSea.io.
NFTs and the NFT marketplaces are relatively new as an industry with fierce competition and a lot of volatility. It is hard to know for all involved – the creators, the fans and the marketplaces, who will make it and who will fail. That makes it hard for entrepreneurs to invest in their NFT related brands – how can you? If you are not sure you have a business tomorrow, what sense does it make investing in a premium domain? As with many other industries however, you can see a trend – the brands who do make it, secure the global domain names exactly matching their brand names. One of the most successful NFT projects up to date is a good example for taking their domain strategy serious – Bored Ape Yacht Club have both boredapeyachtclub.com and their widely popular acronym BAYC.com.
By securing their exact brand match .com .domain OpenSea has surely sent a strong message to its customers, business partners and investors – they are here to stay.
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