Key takeaways:
- NFT giant OpenSea has laid off approximately a fifth of its employees
- The decision came as a result of the crypto winter and the low NFT trading volume
- OpenSea CEO says the workforce cuts could help the company withstand a five year long bear market
Workforce cut comes amid plunging NFT sales
OpenSea, the world’s largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in terms of trading volume, is laying off a fifth of its workforce, according to the company’s CEO Devin Finzer. In a statement shared on Twitter, initially posted on the company’s Slack, Finzer said that employees that have been let go will receive generous severance packages and other benefits.
Finzer said that the decision to reduce the team’s size was a “difficult” one, but a necessary one to take to prepare the business for “the possibility of a prolonged bear market.” The CEO added that the workforce cuts put the company in a position to withstand a five year long crypto winter as long as trading volume stays the same.
According to a report from The Block, the OpenSea team consists of 230 employees, down from about 290 before the layoffs. The exact number of employees that had been let go has not been publicly disclosed.
OpenSea trading volume saw a sharp decline in recent months. The company facilitated $695 million in total trading volume on Ethereum in June, per Dune Analytics. To put the figure into perspective, the total Ethereum trading volume reached $4.86 billion in January, OpenSea’s best month to date.
NFT sales on Polygon saw a similar percentage decrease as on Ethereum. June’s Polygon NFT trading volume was $8.9 million, down from $79 million just five months prior.
In a statement to the OpenSea team, Finzer said that the crypto downturn represents a “huge opportunity” for an “explosion in innovation and utility across NFTs.” The CEO concluded his remarks with the following thought:
“When the global economy is uncertain, our mission to build the foundation for new, peer-to-peer economies feels more urgent and important than ever. Winter is our time to build.”
