OpenSea sets SEA token launch for Q1 2026, with 50% of revenue at launch earmarked for buybacks
OpenSea will launch its long-awaited token in the first quarter of 2026, the platform's CEO announced, as the NFT trading site transforms itself into a multi-chain trading hub and perpetual futures protocol.
Details on the platform's SEA token were revealed in an X post on Friday from OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer, in a joint announcement with the OpenSea Foundation. The token will be launched in the first quarter of 2026, according to the announcement, with 50% of the total supply going to OpenSea's community — namely OG users and participants in the current rewards program — and with more than half of that sum awarded during the token's initial claim period.
"Both OGs and those who participated in OpenSea rewards programs will be meaningfully considered, separately," the announcement states.
50% of the platform's revenue will be used for token buybacks "at launch," according to the announcement, and users will be able to stake SEA tokens "behind [their] favorite tokens and collections." OpenSea did not disclose the total token supply or reveal further details on how allocations will be determined, nor did it say how the percentage of revenue going to buybacks would be determined. The Block could not immediately reach OpenSea for comment.
The planned launch comes as OpenSea pivots from an NFT marketplace to a multi-chain trading hub. So far in October, OpenSea has had its biggest volume month in three years, with $1.6 billion in crypto trades and $230 million in NFTs, The Block previously reported. The platform currently has about a two-thirds share of the Ethereum NFT market, according to The Block's data, though trading volumes are considerably down from the heyday of the digital assets.
OpenSea also plans to support perpetual futures contracts ('perps') on the platform, as capital that once chased NFTs and memecoins is increasingly moving towards perps, especially on newcomer decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid and Aster. OpenSea has also opened its mobile app to testers in a closed alpha stage, and plans to launch the app between now and the token generation event.
OpenSea's evolution will be "the destination for the onchain economy in its entirety," Finzer wrote. "Trade everything. Tokens, culture, art, ideas, the digital and the physical. And all in one place that feels like a home, not a bank."
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