OpenSea’s highly anticipated SEA token is coming in the first quarter of 2026, the NFT marketplace has become a broader token trading platform, as announced on Friday.
The firm first shared its token plans in February, but withheld key details such as the launch date and token allocations. Now users know that the token will be available soon and the community will receive 50% of the final SEA supply.
The platform launched the final phase of pre-token rewards on September 15, allowing users to access the first set of rewards reward treasure chests on Thursday.
“Integrating SEA into OpenSea will be an opportunity to show the world our vision. It will shine a spotlight on everything we are building,” CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer wrote on X.
OpenSea has surpassed $2.6 billion in trading volume this month, with more than 90% of that coming from token trading.
This is just the beginning of our transformation, from ‘NFT marketplace’ to ‘trade anything’.
NFTs were chapter one for us. In 2021, OpenSea brought the first wave of regular internet users…
— dfinzer.eth | opensea (@dfinzer) October 17, 2025
“So we have to make damn sure that what we’ve built deserves that spotlight – not just for us, but for every holder who believes in what crypto can become,” he added. “SEA is not designed to be launched and forgotten.”
The first quarter launch and token claim will immediately provide approximately 25% of the total SEA offering to community users, with an additional 25% to be shared with the same user demographic over time.
Additionally, the company announced that 50% of its revenue at launch will be used to buy back SEA tokens, and users will be able to stake the token on the platform.
While specific details about the community distribution were not shared, Finzer added that “both OGs and those who participated in OpenSea rewards programs will be considered separately.”
The trading platform, which rose to fame during the Ethereum NFT bull run, was at one point handling billions of dollars in monthly NFT trading volume. But as interest in NFTs waned in 2022 and beyond, monthly volume declined fell to $38 million last year.
As part of the SEA token announcement earlier this year, the company unveiled a business revamp, shifting gears from a sole focus on NFT trading to a platform for trading everything, including trading fungible tokens, including meme coins.
OpenSea’s monthly trading volumes are back in the billions for the first time since 2022. more than 2.6 billion dollars already this month, although 90% of the volume is the result of token trading – and not NFTs.
In July OpenSea announced the acquisition of the mobile portfolio and trading application Rally to overhaul its mobile experience, which is now in closed alpha. Eventually, the company also expects to add offender trafficking to its feature set.
An OpenSea representative did not immediately respond Decode request for comment.