Opensea cuts 20% of NFT market staff, citing “Crypto Winter” and “Macroeconomic instability” – Bitcoin News

The largest non-fungible token marketplace (NFT) by trading volume, Opensea, has announced that the company has let 20% of its employees go after CEO Devin Finzer said the layoffs were due to a combination of “crypto winter and widespread macroeconomic instability.” Opensea’s decision follows the startup that exceeded $ 31 billion in NFT sales volume over time, and the company adds a number of new support features.

Opensea boss reveals layoffs

Opensea joins the growing list of crypto-active companies announcing layoffs this year, as the downturn in the crypto market has affected almost every aspect of the industry. July 14, 2022, Devin Finzer, Opensea’s CEO, explained the company had a “hard day”, after it had to let go of around 20% of the company’s workforce. Finzer further shared the note he wrote to members of the Opensea team before announcing the dismissals via Twitter.

Finzer’s note to the team states that the management had to make an “incredibly sad and difficult decision”, and the statement highlighted the fact that the industry had a demanding “crypto winter”. Finzer added that Opensea must “prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn.” The CEO explained that the changes will help the company continue strongly with “several years of runway.”

The move comes at a time when a myriad of technology companies, blockchain companies and cryptocurrency companies have laid off thousands of workers. Last week, Meta explained that it slowed down the hiring process and suggested future layoffs. Companies such as Bitso, Robinhood, Coinbase, Gemini, 2TM, Rain Financial, Blockfi, Bitpanda, Buenbit and Crypto.com have all announced layoffs. The Austrian stock exchange Bitpanda detailed that it had to let employees go to “navigate the storm and get out of it financially sound.”

While many crypto companies have released people, there are still a number of positions available in the digital currency and blockchain industry. Last weekend, Binance co-founder Yi He told Fortune that the company still has vacancies. “We currently have more than 2,000 roles open from engineers, product, marketing to business development,” said Yi He. “The crypto area is still in its early stages, and beef markets tend to care more about price, while bear markets have more value-conscious teams that continue to build the industry. We see this as a great time to bring in top talent,” Binance said. co-founders.

Opensea Executive says NFT Marketplace is in a “strong position to continue to drive space forward”

Opensea’s Finzer continued to compliment the employees who left on Thursday in their Twitter thread. “The people who are leaving us are smart, hard-working, mission-driven individuals who have played an immense role in growing OpenSea and the NFT area to where we are today,” wrote. “We will miss them, and they will forever be a part of our history and society.” Finzer’s Twitter thread highlighted that the CEO still had an “enormous conviction in the NFT area”, and he further noted that Opensea had a role to play in the growing sector.

“During this winter, we will see an explosion in innovation across the ecosystem,” Finzer said. “And with the changes we have made, we are in a strong position to continue to drive the space forward.”

Prior to the company’s layoffs, data show that Opensea has recorded a total of $ 31.29 billion in NFT sales volume over time. The NFT market added Solana (SOL) network support in April, and during the same month, cryptocurrency startup Moonpay announced the ability to pay for Opensea NFTs with credit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay. During the first week of January 2022, Opensea revealed that the company had secured $ 300 million, and later that month the company acquired Dharma Labs. The exact sum of how many Opensea employees were released is unknown.

Openseas Finzer added that the leading NFT marketplace is focused on its goals. “When the global economy is uncertain, our mission to build a fundamental layer for new peer-to-peer economies feels more urgent and important than ever,” Finzer concluded.

What do you think about Opensea laying off 20% of the company’s employees? Tell us your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial engineering journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols that are emerging today.