Giant NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off about 20 percent of its staff

Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea Obviously this afternoon That NFT The marketplace has fired about 20 percent of its employees. Finzer did not show the number of people represented. A Forbes paper In January celebrating Finzer and his co-founder Alex Atallah’s net worth of $ 2.2 billion (each), the company said it employs more than 70 people, an OpenSea spokeswoman said. The Verge 230 people remain in the company.

When I created an OpenSea profile in FebruaryThe company just received Additional $ 300 million in funding With a valuation of $ 13.3 billion, it was the dominant player in token sales and earned a 2.5% commission on trading.

Still, how is the sustained decline in activity and prices? NFT sales are flat Or have Fell off a cliffThe opposition to the whole concept follows many companies that have adopted or proposed to do so. Recently, Reddit has launched the NFT Collectable Avatar feature Without open reference to the term, and just today, Sony marketing executives had to dismiss concerns from gamers. New digital collectibles feature brings blockchain and NFT to PS5..

This is the latest in a series of Web3 companies that have expanded rapidly over the last two years as cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed and are currently reducing staff. Finzer was able to notify affected employees directly before announcing the layoffs, providing “generous” retirement, medical care for the rest of the year, employment support, and accelerated stock vesting. Said. In his memo, Finzer states that if this “Cryptographic Winter” continues, these changes will give the company up to five years’ worth of runways.

Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange that launched the NFT Marketplace earlier this year, Let go of 1,100 people last monthAnd only GameStop Opened NFT store last week,A few days later Announcing a layoff round..

With the entry of new competitors, things have become even more difficult and the use of alternative storefronts like LooksRare has increased, but OpenSea has a series of recent issues that go beyond cryptocurrencies and the plunging prices of many NFTs. had.

• Bugs allow attackers to steal expensive items from their owners Significantly cheaper than the list price..
• February, phishing attack Stealing NFT It was (at that time) worth as much as $ 1.7 million.
• Former product chief Nate Chastain gave up last fall because he abused access to buy an NFT just before it was posted on the OpenSea main page (which could result in a sudden surge in value). Arrested for insider trading..
• At the end of JuneAn employee of that email delivery vendor has increased the risk of stealing OpenSea users’ email addresses and becoming the target of phishing scams.

On the other hand, the overall marketing of non-fungible tokens is the ability to prove ownership of digital items and the decentralization that does not depend on a single source for verification, but OpenSea sayscredibility.. Remove tokens for content that creators do not have the right to sell, or content that mimics other NFTs such as Bored ApeYachtClub.

Launch also started New SeaPort protocol This is to significantly reduce the annoying gas prices that can surge during periods of high demand. I recently redesigned my profile page..