World’s Largest NFT Marketplace OpenSea Cuts 20% of Workforce Due to Bites of Crypto Winter
What happened now? OpenSea, the world’s largest market for non-fungible tokens, is cutting about 20% of its staff as it becomes the latest company to feel the effects of the ongoing crypto winter. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer also partially blamed the global economic situation and a possible “protracted downturn” that has seen other tech companies cut and restructure their workforce.
Yesterday, Finzer tweeted a screenshot of a message he sent to OpenSea staff. “The reality is that we have entered an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic volatility, and we need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn,” he wrote. The changes will give the company a runway for five years if the crypto winter doesn’t get better – or presumably doesn’t get worse.
According to the note, those who quit will be given generous severance pay, health insurance through 2023, and accelerated stock vesting “for those who haven’t reached their cliff.”
Today is a tough day for OpenSea as we are laying off about 20% of our team. Here is a note I shared with our team this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7
— Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) July 14, 2022
Finzer never said exactly how many people would lose their jobs. OpenSea says it will have 230 people left after the layoffs, so that number is likely to be between 45 and 60.
Back in January, OpenSea raised $300 million in venture capital, some of which was to go towards hiring 90 new employees.
Web3 companies have fallen on hard times lately. The cryptocurrency crash, which also affected the NFT market, saw Coinbase lay off 1,100 employees last month, BlockFi laid off about 200 employees, and Crypto.com laid off 260 people. Meanwhile, Celsius filed for bankruptcy, leaving customers wondering if they would ever see their money again. There’s also a general economic downturn that has seen Microsoft, Google, Tesla and others lay off staff, cut hiring and restructure.
