OpenSea announced Tuesday it has raised a massive $300 million Series C funding round that boosts its new valuation from $1.5 billion in its previous round to a whopping $13.3 billion. Paradigm and Coatue led the latest round, which came just 6 months after a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
The non-fungible tokens marketplace enjoyed a highly successful 2021, seeing over $2.4 billion in transaction volume in the past 30 days alone and raking in hundreds of millions in fees last year. In a blog post, CEO Devin Finzer noted the firm's transaction volume increased "over 600x" last year.
Although OpenSea currently has few major competitors, the landscape may quickly change as major exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) eyes the NFT space and other marketplaces receive funding and launch new platforms. The NFT space saw plenty of growth in 2021, but OpenSea acknowledges its valuation will rely on continued success and ability to entice new users into the changing world of crypto collectibles.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
China is rolling out its new digital currency to popular Tencent-owned (OTC: TCEHY) WeChat, the country's largest messaging app and one of the biggest payment services. China has been working on the digital yuan (RMB) since 2014 and has not yet released it nationwide, but WeChat will soon begin supporting the Chinese sovereign digital currency among its over 1 billion users, which could provide it with a huge boost once people begin to make payments with it. WeChat is often dubbed a "super app" because many services are included inside. People can use messaging functions and make payments via WeChat Pay, as well as hail taxis and order food. WeChat Pay lets users show merchants a barcode on their phone to pay for items in store and online, and the service boasts over 800 million monthly active users. The WeChat rollout is the latest sign that the People's Bank of China aims to expand usage of the digital yuan, despite no concrete date for a nationwide debut. The PBOC also launched an e-CNY or digital yuan app this week for users in certain regions and cities. The new app will enable people to sign up to start using the digital currency without needing an invite, ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) is considering creating its own stablecoin as the payments giant grows its crypto business, a spokesman confirmed to CoinDesk on Friday: "We are exploring a stablecoin; if and when we seek to move forward, we will of course, work closely with relevant regulators." Sources told CoinDesk in September that PayPal subsidiary Curv is actively working on developing a stablecoin, and Bloomberg first reported the news after evidence of PayPal's exploration into building its own stablecoin was discovered in the firm's iPhone app by developer Steve Moser. Hidden code and images show work on what is dubbed a "PayPal Coin." The preliminary code shows the stablecoin would be backed by the US dollar (USD). A spokesperson said the code and images in the app came from a recent internal hackathon. PayPal has been increasing engagement with its cryptocurrency efforts recently, by lifting the amount of crypto its customers can purchase, as well as educating its users on crypto and enabling them to withdraw their coins safely to third-party wallets.
Crypto prices fell to $1.99 trillion this week amid the Fed's hawkish tone. For the majors, all except stablecoins slumped. In the top 100, the biggest decliners were GALA, down 26%, Axie Infinity (AXS), down 23%, and Loopring (LRC), down 22%. The biggest gainers were Internet Computer (ICP), up 30%, Chainlink (LINK), up 26%, and Cosmos (ATOM), up 4.5%. Next week traders will watch if Bitcoin (BTC) stays above the $40,000 level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.