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OpenSea could very easily die. They have momentum, but not a lot of moat. They also don't have a lot of community good will. A well funded competitor could take

OpenSea could very easily die. They have momentum, but not a lot of moat. They also don't have a lot of community good will. A well funded competitor could take them down quickly. Might not happen, but as of now it definitely could.

paulgb 5y ago
According to a Twitter employee, Twitter will piggyback on OpenSea verification for verified profile pictures. If it ships, that will be a big moat. https://twitter.com/thesmarmybum/status/1478505321433735169?s=21 https://twitter.com/thesmarmybum/status/1478505321433735169?...
- TigeriusKirk 5y ago
  Not particularly. What verification means there is verifying that a certain Bored Ape is really on the "official" Bored Ape contract. It's verifying the contract address and nothing else. The NFTs themselves can be traded anywhere, there's no lockin for OpenSea there. It's trivial for Twitter to add another contract address verification source.
  - paulgb 5y ago
    Will OpenSea verify an NFT minted on a non-OpenSea platform? I had assumed the answer is “no” but I’m not 100% sure. > It's trivial for Twitter to add another contract address verification source. It’s technically trivial, but then they are putting themselves in a position to verify the verifiers. It seems like they are outsourcing verification because they want to avoid the overhead of deciding what a verified NFT is, which is something they would have to do if they invited in more sources.
    - TigeriusKirk 5y ago
      >Will OpenSea verify an NFT minted on a non-OpenSea platform? Yes. All the popular NFTs were minted on their own contracts, not on OpenSea. My suspicion is Twitter will move to verifying for themselves in the long run. I get why they don't want to do it to start, but the hassles of dealing with any 3rd party will grow over time.
      - paulgb 5y ago
        I found the form to get verified; it doesn’t matter where the collection was minted but you have to reach a volume threshold on OpenSea. https://airtable.com/shr6kWzFZ4gWdYE6C https://airtable.com/shr6kWzFZ4gWdYE6C I would bet against Twitter ever entering the NFT verification game. They are already in over their head with account verification, IMHO.
bambax 5y ago
> A well funded competitor could take them down quickly Ok, maybe, but that would mean they would be simply replaced by more of the same. It would not mean a return to a decentralized system.
- TigeriusKirk 5y ago
  Sure. My expectation is Coinbase will clobber them, and I'm not excited about that from a decentralization viewpoint. They will have a moat since they're also where a lot of people keep their money. Money will never have to leave the platform, which is an advantage. There are projects in the works for decentralized exchanges. There are challenges there, but they will eventually exist. I doubt they'll ever dominate, though.
  - timeon 5y ago
    > Money will never have to leave the platform I wonder if they even need the blockchain.
    - TigeriusKirk 5y ago
      It's a fair question. They don't need the blockchain until the money/nft leaves the platform. But to keep credibility, they'll need the NFTs to show up in on-chain addresses. They may end up only doing that on-request. The NBA TopShot collectibles work on a blockchain, though the media being traded (NBA game clips) can only be seen on the official platform and you can't sell the collectibles on any other platform. And they're their own on-ramp by taking credit card purchases for the collectibles. As things stand, there's really no good reason for them to be on a blockchain at all, and personally I don't consider them to be a real NFT. None of that has stopped them from being successful, though.

paulgb 5y ago

According to a Twitter employee, Twitter will piggyback on OpenSea verification for verified profile pictures. If it ships, that will be a big moat. https://twitter.com/thesmarmybum/status/1478505321433735169?s=21 https://twitter.com/thesmarmybum/status/1478505321433735169?...

TigeriusKirk 5y ago
Not particularly. What verification means there is verifying that a certain Bored Ape is really on the "official" Bored Ape contract. It's verifying the contract address and nothing else. The NFTs themselves can be traded anywhere, there's no lockin for OpenSea there. It's trivial for Twitter to add another contract address verification source.
- paulgb 5y ago
  Will OpenSea verify an NFT minted on a non-OpenSea platform? I had assumed the answer is “no” but I’m not 100% sure. > It's trivial for Twitter to add another contract address verification source. It’s technically trivial, but then they are putting themselves in a position to verify the verifiers. It seems like they are outsourcing verification because they want to avoid the overhead of deciding what a verified NFT is, which is something they would have to do if they invited in more sources.
  - TigeriusKirk 5y ago
    >Will OpenSea verify an NFT minted on a non-OpenSea platform? Yes. All the popular NFTs were minted on their own contracts, not on OpenSea. My suspicion is Twitter will move to verifying for themselves in the long run. I get why they don't want to do it to start, but the hassles of dealing with any 3rd party will grow over time.
    - paulgb 5y ago
      I found the form to get verified; it doesn’t matter where the collection was minted but you have to reach a volume threshold on OpenSea. https://airtable.com/shr6kWzFZ4gWdYE6C https://airtable.com/shr6kWzFZ4gWdYE6C I would bet against Twitter ever entering the NFT verification game. They are already in over their head with account verification, IMHO.

bambax 5y ago

> A well funded competitor could take them down quickly Ok, maybe, but that would mean they would be simply replaced by more of the same. It would not mean a return to a decentralized system.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago
Sure. My expectation is Coinbase will clobber them, and I'm not excited about that from a decentralization viewpoint. They will have a moat since they're also where a lot of people keep their money. Money will never have to leave the platform, which is an advantage. There are projects in the works for decentralized exchanges. There are challenges there, but they will eventually exist. I doubt they'll ever dominate, though.
- timeon 5y ago
  > Money will never have to leave the platform I wonder if they even need the blockchain.
  - TigeriusKirk 5y ago
    It's a fair question. They don't need the blockchain until the money/nft leaves the platform. But to keep credibility, they'll need the NFTs to show up in on-chain addresses. They may end up only doing that on-request. The NBA TopShot collectibles work on a blockchain, though the media being traded (NBA game clips) can only be seen on the official platform and you can't sell the collectibles on any other platform. And they're their own on-ramp by taking credit card purchases for the collectibles. As things stand, there's really no good reason for them to be on a blockchain at all, and personally I don't consider them to be a real NFT. None of that has stopped them from being successful, though.