The largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace by trade volume, Opensea, has announced the company has let 20% of its staff go after CEO Devin Finzer said the layoffs were due to a combination of “crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability.” Opensea’s decision follows the startup surpassing $31 billion in all-time NFT sales volume, and the company adding a variety of new support features.
Opensea CEO Reveals Company Layoffs
Opensea is joining the growing number of crypto asset companies that have announced layoffs in this year’s market. The crypto market downturn has impacted almost every sector of the industry. On July 14, 2022, Devin Finzer, Opensea’s chief executive officer, explained the company had a “hard day,” after it had to let go around 20% of the firm’s workforce. Finzer also shared the note he wrote to Opensea employees before announcing the layoffs via twitter.
Finzer sent a note to the team stating that management had to make a “terribly sad and difficult decision” and that Opensea needed to prepare for “multiple years’ worth of runway .”
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This move comes at a moment when many tech companies, blockchain businesses, and cryptocurrency businesses are laying off thousands of employees. Last week, Meta explained that it was slowing its hiring process and hinted at future layoffs. There have been layoffs at firms like Bitso and Robinhood, Coinbase. Gemini, 2TM. Rain Financial, Blockfi. Bitpanda. Buenbit. Crypto.com. The Austrian exchange Bitpanda detailed that it had to let staff go in order to “navigate the storm and get out of it financially healthy.”
While many crypto companies have let people go, there are still a number of positions available in the digital currency and blockchain industry. Yi He, Binance’s co-founder, told Fortune this weekend that there are still jobs available. “We currently have more than 2,000 roles open from engineers, product, marketing to business development,” Yi He said. “The crypto market is still very young. Bull markets are more concerned with price, while bear markets are more focused on value and continue to grow the sector. The Binance co-founder stated that this is a great opportunity to attract top talent.
Opensea Executive Accuses NFT Marketplace of Being in a Strong Position to Drive the Space Forward ‘
Opensea’s Finzer kept his Twitter thread going, praising the employees who were leaving. “The folks leaving us are smart, hardworking, mission-driven individuals who’ve played an immeasurable role in growing OpenSea and the NFT space to where we are today,” the CEO wrote. “We will miss them, and they will always be part of our story” Finzer wrote :
” This winter will see an explosion of innovation in the ecosystem,” Finzer noted. “And with all the changes that we’ve made, it’s in a strong place to continue driving the space forward .”
Prior to the company’s layoffs, data shows that Opensea has recorded a total of $31. 29 billion in all-time NFT sales volume. The NFT marketplace added Solana (SOL) network support in April, and during the same month the crypto startup Moonpay announced the option to pay for Opensea NFTs with credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. During the first week of January 2022, Opensea revealed the company secured $300 million and later that month, the company acquired Dharma Labs. It is not known how many Opensea employees were laid off.
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Opensea said that the most important NFT marketplace is focused towards its goals. Finzer stated that “when the global economy is uncertain our mission to create a foundational layer of new, peer-to–peer economies feels more urgent than ever.”
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$31 Billion in sales, 2TM, All-Time NFT sales, Binance, BITPANDA, Bitso, Blockfi, Buenbit, Coinbase, Devin Finzer, Dharma Labs, Fortune, Gemini, layoffs, Moonpay, nft, NFT marketplace, NFTs, Non-fungible Token, Opensea, Opensea CEO, Opensea Layoffs, Opensea staff, Rain Financial, Robinhood, Solana support, Yi He
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Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman, the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News, is a Florida-based financial journalist. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. Redman is passionate about Bitcoin, open-source codes, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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