After seven years of ups and downs, how to seize the OpenSea Airdrop opportunity?

OpenSea is about to issue coins, which may be your latest but also most promising airdrop opportunity. Last night, OpenSea announced the official launch of its upgraded platform OS 2, marking the countdown to the $SEA token issuance. The official has clarified that future airdrops will be distributed based on users' historical contributions, current on-chain behavior, and XP points in the Voyages task system.

This article will help you quickly master how to complete the latest task updates on OpenSea, covering basic operations such as gallery creation, cross-chain trading, and NFT purchasing, as well as analyzing the incentive logic behind $SEA and the platform's transformation motives.

Transforming into Cryptocurrency Trading and Launching Token Incentive Program

On May 30, OpenSea officially ended its internal testing phase and publicly launched its newly upgraded platform—OpenSea 2 (OS 2), marking a key step for this veteran NFT trading market in its transition towards a broader cryptocurrency asset ecosystem. The new platform currently supports token trading on 19 blockchains, with features covering everything from NFT minting to cross-chain token exchange, and simultaneously launched a user incentive system called "Voyages."

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer stated in the announcement that OS2 is not a simple iteration, but rather "the technological and experiential foundation of the next generation of OpenSea." Finzer pointed out that the new platform aims to create a comprehensive trading platform that spans multiple chains and serves different communities, no longer limited to NFT trading, but fully embracing various forms of on-chain assets, including standard Tokens.

As an important part of this upgrade, OpenSea has simultaneously launched a new user incentive mechanism. Users will earn XP (experience points) after completing operations on the platform such as creating NFT display pages, cross-chain transactions, and bulk purchases. These points will be redeemable for OpenSea's upcoming native Token - $SEA.

Related reading: "OpenSea's seven-year ups and downs, the former "number one" NFT exchange still chose to issue coin"

According to OpenSea's Chief Marketing Officer Adam Hollander, the $SEA Airdrop will be officially launched through TGE after a series of key product releases. Hollander confessed in a blog, "We fully understand the community's expectations for the $SEA Airdrop, but this is not an ordinary token issuance; it is a core event that determines the next phase of OpenSea's ecological mechanism."

Currently, OpenSea has not announced a specific timeline for the TGE, but it has made it clear that three types of actions will affect users' airdrop weights:

1. Historical contribution, which refers to the user's past trading activity on OpenSea.

2. Current activities, including actual usage on the new platform, especially related to token trading activities;

3. XP points obtained through the Voyages task system.

It is worth noting that "Voyages" is not just a simple task attendance mechanism, but rather a reward system divided into five rare levels (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary). Some advanced tasks will also unlock special reward items called "Treasures," which will be directly recorded on the user's profile page as evidence of their participation and contribution.

In addition, OpenSea has also restructured its Discord community, aiming to create a hub for Web3 users to communicate and provide feedback. According to the official introduction, the community channels have been greatly simplified, and mechanisms such as identity grouping, themed interviews, and real-time voice interactions have been introduced to enhance user engagement and governance participation.

OpenSea stated that OS 2 is just the first step in the platform's transformation. In the future, it will continue to expand support for on-chain integration, introduce more asset classes, and promote the deep integration of user incentives, community governance, and the platform's economic model while ensuring decentralized principles. In Devin Finzer's view, the launch of $SEA is not only a mechanism leap for OpenSea itself but could also become an important watershed as Web3 applications transition from a single scenario to a diversified economic system.

Interactive Tutorial

Before the official launch of the SEA token TGE, OpenSea is actively encouraging users to deeply experience its new platform OS 2 through a series of interactive tasks. Starting from May 30, the official has launched a new round of the Voyages event, where users can earn XP points by completing on-chain interactive tasks and accumulate qualifications for future redemption of $SEA. This is also seen as a core participation entry before the TGE, especially against the historical backdrop where Blur has incentivized large-scale airdrops through trading behavior, leading to generally high expectations from the community for OpenSea's current reward period.

The task flow for this update is relatively simple and suitable for all users to get started quickly:

Task 1: Create Personal Gallery

After entering OpenSea OS 2, users can create their own NFT display page through the "Gallery" feature. Simply upload collectibles and edit the introduction to complete the task, which is a fundamental step to accumulate XP.

Task 2: Conduct on-chain Token trading

Complete a token exchange operation of no less than 5 dollars on the Solana on-chain (for example, SOL to USDC), with very low fees of only about 0.1 dollars, which helps familiarize yourself with the cross-chain trading experience of OS 2.

Task 3: Purchase an NFT for around 5 dollars

Choose any NFT with good liquidity and small price fluctuations for purchase, and it is also recommended to complete it on the Solana chain, balancing low costs and high efficiency.

Task Four: Social Interaction

Completing the official designated tasks of liking and sharing according to the activity requirements helps to synchronize and enhance community participation.

It is worth mentioning that OpenSea initially charged account opening fees and has carried countless users' sentimental memories of entering Web3. In light of the lessons learned from Blur's aggressive Airdrop that made a mark in the market, the current round of $SEA distribution is considered OpenSea's "redemption" back to the community. As the event continues to update, community users have also expressed their intention to create tutorials and share strategies around each round of tasks, positioning themselves as potential winners of this round of Airdrop.

The Rise and Fall of Opensea

After announcing the official launch of OS 2 and the upcoming token issuance mechanism, OpenSea is once again in the spotlight of the crypto world. However, to understand why this once $13.3 billion valued NFT marketplace creator needs such a comprehensive self-reconstruction, it may be worthwhile to review its ups and downs over the past seven years.

Related reading: "Success and Failure of NFT, the Rise and Fall of the Company in the Eyes of 18 OpenSea Internal Employees"

The story of OpenSea began in the early days of blockchain in 2017. At that time, founders Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah were still exploring the idea of sharing Wi-Fi through cryptocurrency, until the explosive popularity of CryptoKitties prompted them to rethink the potential of NFTs. In early 2018, the two officially founded OpenSea and successfully secured their first round of funding after joining Y Combinator. At that time, the NFT market was still in its infancy, and OpenSea was once on par with competitors like Rare Bits.

The early days of OpenSea were not easy. Before 2020, its platform's trading volume remained at the million-dollar level for years, relying on a lean team and focused strategy to maintain operations. It wasn't until the NFT bull market arrived in 2021 that OpenSea experienced explosive growth. That year, Beeple's digital artwork sold for a high price of $69 million, and series like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ignited market sentiment. OpenSea's monthly trading volume surpassed $3 billion during the summer of that year, and by the end of the year, it set a historical monthly record of $5 billion.

OpenSea also stepped into the limelight. In 2021, a $100 million funding round led by a16z increased its valuation to $1.5 billion. At the beginning of 2022, a new round of financing further raised its valuation to $13.3 billion, making it the undisputed absolute leader in the NFT market.

However, what followed was a market retreat and management difficulties. On one hand, the popularity of NFTs plummeted sharply since early 2022, and on the other hand, OpenSea was also plagued by negative news such as insider trading, system failures, and user security incidents, which severely damaged its reputation. More importantly, after Blur emerged at the end of 2022, OpenSea's market share among professional traders was quickly eroded. Emerging platforms launched "vampire attacks" on OpenSea using lower fees, faster execution, and token incentives as weapons.

Starting in 2023, OpenSea has continuously launched layoffs and restructuring efforts to alleviate cost pressures and reorganize its product roadmap. At that time, its market share had dropped from its peak of 95% to less than 30%. The planned IPO has also stalled due to community opinion and regulatory pressures. Finzer ultimately decided to completely abandon the path of "traditional tech companies" and instead return to the origin of Web3—issuing coins.

Once the news was announced, OpenSea's platform trading volume saw a long-awaited surge. However, with the controversy surrounding the airdrop mechanism, the enthusiasm for interaction brought about by the issuance of coins quickly cooled.

The launch of the SEA Token is not just OpenSea's "self-rescue"; it signifies that the platform, after a tug-of-war between commercialization and community trust, has finally chosen to rebind with its users. The success or failure of this radical strategic restructuring will determine whether OpenSea can rise again from silence and will also reshape the future competitive landscape of the entire NFT market.