OpenSea pivots to multichain trading with SEA token in 2026

OpenSea said it has moved beyond its origins as a nonfungible token marketplace to become a multichain crypto trading aggregator and will launch a native token, SEA, in the first quarter of 2026 as part of that transformation. The company, led by cofounder and CEO Devin Finzer, announced the shift in mid‑October as it reported a surge in activity, saying October trading volume reached about $2.6 billion, with more than 90 percent coming from token trading rather than NFTs.

Under the new model, OpenSea enables trading of tokens, NFTs and memecoins across 22 blockchains, aggregating liquidity from decentralized venues such as Uniswap and Meteora. The platform operates on a noncustodial basis, does not require Know Your Customer checks and charges a 0.9 percent fee on trades, the company said. OpenSea also said it works with analytics firm TRM Labs to monitor and flag sanctioned or suspicious wallet addresses.

Finzer described the move as a response to changing market demand. "People want one place where every asset works," he wrote, and he has framed OpenSea’s evolution as a continuation of the company’s earlier effort to bring more users onchain. He also said the firm wants users...