Company profile
NFT Marketplaces
OpenSea: what it is, who owns it, fees and how it works
OpenSea is a marketplace for buying, selling and minting NFTs that now also offers token swaps and perpetual futures across more than 25 blockchains. It is operated by Ozone Networks, Inc., which Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah founded in 2017, and it never takes custody of the assets traded on it.
By Mara Okonkwo · Facts checked Nov 1, 2026
Who runs OpenSea
OpenSea is the trading name of Ozone Networks, Inc., the company its terms of service (last updated 20 October 2026) name as the operator. The terms give a Miami, Florida address for legal notices. OpenSea's about page says Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah founded it in 2017 as the first open marketplace for NFTs, and that it went through Y Combinator's Winter 2018 batch. Finzer is now chief executive, and Atallah is listed as co-founder and board member. Chris Maddern is chief technology officer, and investor Chris Dixon is an advisor and board member.
Two other entities sit around the company:
- Sea Trove LLC, an Ozone subsidiary, provides the wallet and on-ramp service under separate terms. The embedded wallet itself is supplied by Privy, a third-party provider.
- The OpenSea Foundation, described by OpenSea as Cayman Islands-based, is the body that will oversee the planned SEA token and supports work on marketplace protocols such as Seaport.
OpenSea's own timeline lists a $300 million Series C in 2022, led by Paradigm and Coatue at a $13.3 billion valuation. It also lists OpenSea Pro and OpenSea Studio in 2023, a rebuilt platform, OpenSea 2.0 (OS2), in 2024, and token trading in 2025. Ozone Networks is privately held.
What OpenSea offers
OpenSea started as an NFT marketplace and now also trades fungible tokens. Its product list covers:
- NFT marketplace: listings, offers, collection pages, primary drops and trading cards. OpenSea Pro is a separate interface for high-volume traders.
- Token swaps: live since the OS2 launch on 29 May 2025, which OpenSea said covered 19 chains at the time, including Solana tokens.
- Perps: perpetual futures trading, which the fee page ties to Hyperliquid.
- Studio: tools for creators to deploy a contract and mint. A basic "Create Collection" contract mints ERC-1155 items on an EVM chain of your choice.
- Rewards: a points and quest program. The mobile app went live on 20 October 2026.
The supported-chains article lists 27 networks, including Ethereum, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Abstract, Ronin, Monad, Arc and Solana. Coverage varies by chain. On Solana, OpenSea says you can swap tokens and trade NFTs "from a selected group of collections"; Solana NFT support launched on 31 August 2026. Stock tokens on Robinhood Chain are not available in the United States. The about page cites more than 2 million collections, 80 million NFTs and $20 billion in total volume, which are OpenSea's own figures.
How buying and selling works
OpenSea does not hold your assets. You connect a self-custody wallet, or sign up for the embedded Privy wallet, and every trade settles on-chain between wallets. On Ethereum and other EVM chains, NFT trades settle through Seaport, OpenSea's open-source marketplace protocol.
- Listing. The seller signs a message saying what they offer and what they want in return. On EVM chains this usually costs no gas, apart from a one-time approval that lets Seaport move that collection.
- Offers. Buyers sign offers the same way, and the seller can accept one.
- Settlement. The party who completes the trade pays the gas. A buyer pays it when purchasing at a fixed listed price, and a seller pays it when accepting an offer. The Seaport contract transfers the NFT and splits the payment between the seller, the marketplace fee and any creator earnings.
Seaport 1.6 is deployed at the same address, 0x0000000000000068F116a894984e2DB1123eB395, on Ethereum, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Gnosis and other EVM chains. The Seaport repository is MIT-licensed, with copyright held by Ozone Networks. Its README says Trail of Bits audited the protocol between 18 April and 12 May 2022 and found no significant flaws. That audit predates version 1.6, and an audit is not a guarantee against loss.
OpenSea fees
OpenSea's fee article lists the following, and adds that fees can change at any time and may be waived on some sales:
| Activity | OpenSea fee |
|---|---|
| Selling an NFT | 1%, included in the price buyers see |
| Minting in a primary drop | 10% |
| Private listings | 0% |
| Token swaps | 0.5% (10% off with a referral code), plus any liquidity-provider fee |
| Perps trades | 0.01%, on top of Hyperliquid's own trading fees |
Selling an NFT listed at 1 ETH with no creator earnings, the seller receives 0.99 ETH and the 0.01 ETH goes to OpenSea. Gas goes to the network, not to OpenSea, and OpenSea does not set it. Studio's Create Collection option carries no OpenSea fee, only gas. For how gas is priced, see our explainer on gas fees.
Creator earnings (royalties)
Each collection's creator earnings are either required or optional. Where they are required, the percentage the creator set is charged on every listing and accepted offer, including private listings. Where they are optional, the creator suggests a percentage and the seller decides whether to pay it; there is no minimum. If that 1 ETH sale is in a collection with a required 5%, the seller receives 0.94 ETH: 0.05 ETH to the creator and 0.01 ETH to OpenSea.
Who can use it
The terms require users to be 18 or older. Teenagers aged 13 to 17 (16 to 17 in the EEA) may use OpenSea only through a parent's or guardian's account. Anyone located in, resident in or organized in a US-sanctioned country is barred, as are sanctioned persons. The terms do not publish a country list and do not require identity checks to browse or trade, but OpenSea reserves the right to ask for documents and restrict an account until they are provided. Disputes go to individual arbitration with JAMS, and the terms are governed by New York law.
The SEA token
OpenSea has said its foundation will issue a token, SEA. As of 1 November 2026 it has not launched. OpenSea's help center calls the token generation event (TGE) "postponed, not canceled" and gives no new date. In April 2026, OpenSea let users of its Treasure Chest rewards program (Waves 3 to 6) take a refund of the platform fees they had paid. Those who accepted gave up the Treasures they had earned in those waves, which OpenSea says the foundation will otherwise "meaningfully consider" at the TGE. That opt-in window has closed. Because a delayed, high-interest token draws fake airdrop sites, our guide to wallet scams and phishing is worth reading before connecting a wallet to any "SEA claim" page.
Other NFT marketplaces
Marketplaces differ mainly in chain coverage and royalty rules. Magic Eden and Tensor are Solana-first marketplaces. Blur focuses on high-volume Ethereum NFT trading. Their fee and royalty terms differ from OpenSea's, so compare the published schedules for the chain you use.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of the pages below, read on the date shown. Where the company is the only source for a claim, the text says so. Manufacturers change prices and specifications without notice — if something here no longer matches the source, tell us and we will correct it.
- 1.OpenSea — about — checked
- 2.OpenSea — terms of service (last updated 20 Oct 2026) — checked
- 3.OpenSea Help Center — what fees do I pay on OpenSea? — checked
- 4.OpenSea Help Center — which blockchains are compatible with OpenSea? — checked
- 5.OpenSea Help Center — who pays the gas fees on OpenSea? — checked
- 6.OpenSea Help Center — how do I create an NFT? — checked
- 7.OpenSea Help Center — optional fee refund FAQ (8 May 2026) — checked
- 8.OpenSea blog — OS2 out of beta, token trading on 19 chains (29 May 2025) — checked
- 9.OpenSea blog — OpenSea adds support for Solana NFTs (31 Aug 2026) — checked
- 10.OpenSea blog — index (OpenSea Mobile, 20 Oct 2026) — checked
- 11.GitHub — ProjectOpenSea/seaport (README, deployments, audit, MIT licence) — checked
Frequently asked questions
Does OpenSea need my personal details to buy an NFT?
Not to start. You can connect an existing self-custody wallet such as MetaMask or Phantom, or sign up for OpenSea's embedded wallet, which is provided by Privy. OpenSea's terms let it request more information or documents for legal compliance and restrict an account until they are supplied, but they set no routine identity check for trading.
Can OpenSea refund a gas fee or a royalty I paid?
No. OpenSea's terms say gas fees, creator earnings and payment-processor fees are paid to third parties (the network, the creator and the payment provider), so OpenSea cannot refund them. Its own platform fee is the only part it collects, and the fee article says OpenSea may waive that fee on some sales at its discretion.
Why did I pay gas when I listed an NFT for the first time?
On Ethereum and other EVM chains, the first listing from a collection needs a one-time approval transaction that lets the Seaport contract transfer that collection's NFTs when a sale happens. Later listings from the same collection are signed messages and usually need no gas. The gas goes to the network, not OpenSea.
How do I contact OpenSea support?
OpenSea's help center at support.opensea.io is its official support channel, reached through the Support button on opensea.io. OpenSea staff do not need your recovery phrase or private key; anyone asking for them is not OpenSea.
Is OpenSea a public company?
No. Ozone Networks, Inc. is privately held. Its last funding round listed on OpenSea's own timeline is the 2022 Series C of $300 million, led by Paradigm and Coatue. The planned SEA token, which has not launched, would be issued by the separate OpenSea Foundation and is not equity in Ozone Networks.
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