By
Temitope Olatunji
May 9th, 2024
OpenSea has highlighted some existing rarity problems in the NFT space, sharing how it hopes to tackle them with the new OpenRarity protocol.
The world’s largest NFT marketplace OpenSea has tapped multiple partners to create a rarity protocol dubbed OpenRarity. It shared this update in a recent Twitter announcement where it claims that the protocol is in line with efforts to develop an open-source rarity rating system that would benefit artists and consumers alike. According to expectations, however, the rarity protocol will launch on OpenSea sometime next week.
OpenSea to Address Rarity Problems in the NFT Marketplaces
The OpenRarity protocol saw OpenSea teaming up with Curio, Icy Tools, and PROOF to address the issue of rarity. Interestingly, the launch also aligns with OpenSea’s longtime objective of creating transparent and less-bogus rarity calculations for NFTs. The platform also highlighted some existing rarity problems and explained how it hopes to tackle them with the OpenRarity protocol.
Firstly, OpenSea states that current rarity calculations assign values to collectibles using only their market values and creator level. But that is vague, to say the least. The calculations do not, in any way, consider the element of scarcity – a very important factor.
More so, rarity ranking algorithms of NFTs today are developed by closed-source code. So, there is always some sort of divergence across different publications platforms. Hence, making it nearly impossible for NFT fans to determine the true source of their fancied collectible.
Additionally, OpenSea claims that the rarity of NFTs currently comes from a financial standpoint. The implication of this is that developers and creators only have to pay rarity ranking tool developers for their work to rank high. Now, that means low or medium-sized projects stand no chance whatsoever against the already established ones.
Why OpenRarity May Be the Solution
As reiterated by OpenSea, OpenRarity is set to provide a transparent, unbiased, and mathematically sound rarity ranking algorithm. The new rarity protocol will be seamless and free-for-all, immediately mitigating the current divergence existing among rarity protocols today.
Expectedly, this will promote openness and give small and medium-sized projects equal ranking chances as they pair against well-developed NFT projects.
Lastly, OpenSea confirms that the OpenRarity protocol will use simple mathematical calculations to effect changes such as new NFT mints as they happen. That is, in real-time.