OpenSea laying off 50% of their staff

OpenSea was valued at $13.3 billion in 2022, and it confirmed Friday 3rd November 2023, that it has laid off about half of its staff. Rumours are that the private valuation of the company is trading around ~$1 billion dollars right now.

OpenSea was the most notable NFT marketplace in 2021 & 2022 when NFT volume went ballistic. With volumes crashing down in recent times, so has their marketshare with new competitors arising. Amidst that, all other metrics are down significantly.

X user, hildobby, reports that Blur (the biggest OpenSea competitor) is now behind 80% of volume and 50% of trades.

50% OpenSea Team Gone

Yesterday, Devin Finzer, OpenSea co-founder and CEO announced in a 9 tweet thread that OpenSea will be focusing on "OpenSea 2.0… iteratively testing in public -- remaining nimble, attentive, and focused."

With that news, they announced a round of layoffs, amounting to 50% of their team gone.

A Decrypt report mentions "employees affected by the layoffs will be provided four months' worth of severance pay, six months of health care and mental health services, and an accelerated timetable for equity vesting."

Alongside this news, many users on X have been eagerly asking for a token drop. Previously, OpenSea was trying to do an IPO, so a token still seems unlikely.