More than a million users have now bought an NFT on OpenSea

Market-leading NFT marketplace OpenSea has now seen more than one million users make a transaction on its platform as the space continues its recent revival.

Data from Dune.xyz now shows that 1,010,040 users have made at least one transaction, which is usually buying or selling a non-fungible token (NFT), on January 13.

This is in stark contrast to the same date in 2021, where only a paltry 37,400 users had made a transaction on OpenSea.

Additional data from Dune also shows that OpenSea looks to be on track to break its monthly volume record, which saw $3.42bn in volume traded during last August’s sudden emergence of the NFT space.

The data shows that so far in January 2022, OpenSea has seen $2.85bn in volume and shows no signs of slowing as more and more crypto-natives begin to seek more diversified investments and yield to the almost magnetic appeal of NFTs.

However, despite its record-breaking performance and undoubted influence in the success of NFTs, the marketplace is now facing fierce criticism of its operations.

Many in the NFT community have spoken out against its lack of new features, customer support and reliable infrastructure in the face of waves of new users using the marketplace.

In order to address these issues, OpenSea recently raised $300m in funding to improve its customer service and remove barriers of entry for newcomers – which was again met with opposition from the space.

The negative sentiment surrounding OpenSea was further compounded when challenger marketplace LooksRare embraced the flourishing Web3 environment and launched with appealing participation rewards and incentives for using the platform.

The emergence of NFT marketplaces from crypto exchanges including Coinbase, FTX, Binance and the Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway will also continue to pose a challenge to OpenSea’s market dominance in 2022.