- OpenSea has halted its rewards system after the community pushed back
- The community said the system promotes wash trading and doesn’t favor creators
- OpenSea CEO said some of the backlash is from bullies who want “to bring OS down”
NFT marketplace OpenSea has bowed to community pressure and paused its reward system after the community claimed it alienates creators among other vices. The marketplace wanted to use the system to determine the allocation of its upcoming token, SEA. OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer, however, said that some of the backlash comes from people who want to bring the marketplace down, adding that OpenSea is open to ideas from those who want to help it “build the future constructively.”
OpenSea Airdrop Mechanics Resemble Those of Blur
The community said the mechanics resemble those used by Blur, another NFT exchange, and which promoted wash trading and increased the platform’s fees. According to an NFT collector known as Wale, the system allows traders to “immediately dump NFTs to the next farmer […] with almost no loss of capital,” as they try to accumulate points.
The trading activity of the top Opensea $SEA airdrop farmers is absolutely crazy.
Let’s take a look at DE777, the top XP farmer of the last 24 hours.
As soon as one of his bids is triggered, he immediately dumps the NFTs on the next farmer, sometimes within seconds of his bid… pic.twitter.com/q9MAT9XZrN
— wale.moca 🐳 (@waleswoosh) February 17, 2025
Wale added that OpenSea’s new platform OS2 doesn’t have safeguards to prevent the dumping, noting that Blur had a cool-off period. Some suggested that the marketplace should punish those dumping NFTs by reducing their points.
Addressing the backlash, Finzer said the platform is “putting a pause on XP [points] given directly for listing and bidding.” Although Finzer noted the exchange still believes in liquidity rewards, he said the halt will help it “think through the best path forward.”
we’ve heard the feedback on the current XP system, and we’re putting a pause on XP given directly for listing and bidding
while we don’t think liquidity rewards are inherently bad (see more below), we understand that there are a lot of strong emotions towards point systems, and…
— dfinzer.eth | opensea (@dfinzer) February 18, 2025
OpenSea Continues Appreciating Beta Users
The OpenSea CEO disclosed that the marketplace will focus on XP shipments, which are rewards appreciating those buying and holding collectibles on OS2. He revealed that OS2 beta users earned the first round of the shipments.
The backlash comes less than a week after OpenSea announced SEA token meant to reward and engage users. It also comes three weeks after the NFT community criticized OpenSea’s criteria of accessing OS2.
With the community unhappy with OpenSea’s airdrop reward system, it’s to be seen how the marketplace will improve the system.
