NFT marketplace platform OpenSea has decided to postpone the issuance of its native token, SEA. The SEA token was initially set to launch in February 2025, with a planned rollout on March 30, as part of its broader promotional strategy. The SEA token is expected to play a core role in OpenSea's long-term development, aimed at establishing an application for "trading everything," supporting multi-chain token trading, NFTs, and perpetual futures.
However, due to the ongoing weak market environment affecting NFT activity, the platform has decided to delay the token's launch.
According to data from CryptoSlam, the total market capitalization of the NFT market has dropped by over 50% since the beginning of the year, falling from approximately $3.2 billion in mid-January to about $1.62 billion.
OpenSea's Finzer stated that the team wants to ensure that "everything is in place" before moving forward, but did not provide a new timeline for the token release. He also clarified details of the "Waves" reward program that has been ongoing since last October, which aims to determine users' SEA token allocations.
With the token's release now delayed, OpenSea is offering users who participated in Waves 3 to 6 the option to apply for a refund of the transaction fees incurred during that period, but they must forfeit their treasure rewards. The treasure rewards are based on points that users can use to unlock incentives and prizes within the platform.
“While we have postponed the March 30 event, we will hold a standalone event focused on product updates in the coming months. We are excited to see the early response to the mobile app and can’t wait to get it into more hands,” he added.