- Opensea CEO Devin Finzer said the firm took the decision as it was creating a new foundation for OpenSea 2.0.
- 95% of NFTs have no value at all, as per a recent report on the state of NFTs.
Popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has decided to fire half of its staff, co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer informed on X.
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We’re building a new foundation so we can innovate faster and we’ll have some experiences to share with you soon. We will change how we operate – shifting to a smaller team with a direct connection to users.So today, we’re saying goodbye to a number of OpenSea teammates.
— Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) November 3, 2023
Finzer said the firm was creating a new foundation for OpenSea 2.0, leading to the decision to lay off its employees. He added,
“We’ve also heard your feedback loud and clear: at times, OpenSea feels like a follower, not a leader. And that’s not who we want to be.”
The affected employees will receive four months of severance among other benefits. The new organization will be flatter, with fewer middle managers.
OpenSea had earlier fired 20% of its staff in July 2022, citing crypto winter.
During the NFT market boom across 2021 and 2022, OpenSea was the largest NFT marketplace. August 2021 saw $2.8 billion in monthly trading volume.
However, the NFT market began losing steam in mid-2022 alongside falling cryptocurrency prices.
Following other NFT marketplaces, OpenSea also considered taking off creator royalties. But the directive backfired as a large number of artists protested the move.
NFT market slumps
DappGambl recently published a report on the state of NFTs in September. The report found that as many as 95% of NFTs (owned by more than 23 million investors) have no value at all.
Source: DappGambl
High-value NFT assets are very rare. Less than 1% of NFTs have a price tag of over $6,000.
79% of all NFT collections have remained unsold.
NFTs once captured the collective imagination worldwide with multiple news reports of million-dollar deals for sales of certain NFT collectibles. People were excited about this asset class. But the situation is stark now.
The report adds,
“This highlights the incredibly high-risk nature of the NFT market and underscores the need for careful due diligence before making any purchases, especially ones of high-value.”