OpenSea NFT Marketplace Cuts 50% of Headcount: Reasons

Vladislav Sopov

OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer announces transition toward OpenSea 2.0

In a new phase of its progress, the once-largest NFT marketplace will work with a smaller team with a direct connection to users, the CEO said in a statement.

OpenSea starts migration to v2.0 after massive workforce cuts

OpenSea, the first mainstream marketplace for non-fungible tokens, will cut its workforce. CEO Devin Finzer “says goodbye to a number of OpenSea teammates,” keeping silence about the exact count of employees laid off. Community and media outlets add that it is highly likely the company will slash 50% of its team members.

Today, the company feels like a follower, not the leader, Finzer added. As such, it is reorienting its strategy to the “OpenSea 2.0” vision. The major upgrade to the exchange will be focused on underlying technology, reliability, speed, quality and user experience.

Community benefit is the main element of motivation behind the transition to the new vision, among other “meaningful bets”:

We’re building a new foundation so we can innovate faster and we’ll have some experiences to share with you soon (…) We’re making these changes with our community in mind. As we rebuild, we’ll continue supporting our existing products, and will be iteratively testing OpenSea 2.0 in public – remaining nimble, attentive, and focused.

As covered by U.Today previously, in September 2023, OpenSea users suffered from an API leak caused by third-party provider issues.

OpenSea market share drops below 20%

OpenSea announces the upgrade amid a severe recession on NFTs markets. Alongside metaverses and GameFis, NFT projects are the worst sufferers of the 2021-2023 Crypto Winter.

In just a year and a half (January 2022-July 2023), the segment lost 90% of its trading volume, shrinking from $5.1 billion to $568 million, as U.Today reported.

OpenSea also failed to protect its dominance from the Blur upsurge. By printing time, OpenSea is only responsible for 16.8% of trading volume, DefiLlama says. At its peak, OpenSea processed 75% of liquidity injected in NFT markets.

However, it remains the most active exchange in terms of the net number of trades finalized. Also, it keeps a relatively low wash trading share.

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Vladislav Sopov