The management of the OpenSea marketplace, which previously occupied the lion’s share of the non-fungible tokens (NFT) market, announced a sharp change in course and the layoff of half of its employees.
According to OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer, the company is “refocusing and creating OpenSea 2.0.” The new course aims to update the platform in terms of technology, reliability, speed, quality and user experience. As part of the reorientation, the company will lay off about half of its employees. In this case, dismissed employees will receive compensation in the amount of four months’ salary.
“Today we say goodbye to many OpenSea teammates. The move is part of the company’s push toward a so-called “OpenSea 2.0” platform that will focus on product innovation,” Finzer wrote.
According to Finzer, the decision to make a major change in direction was made after feedback from customers who felt that the platform began to “feel like a follower rather than a leader.” If in October 2022, the OpenSea marketplace accounted for 73% of NFT trading volume, then at the beginning of November 2023, the market share dropped to 18%.
“This is not what we are striving for. We want to act quickly, efficiently and convincingly. We change by thinking about our community. As we rebuild, we will continue to support our existing products and iteratively test OpenSea 2.0, remaining attentive and focused,” said the platform’s CEO.
It was previously reported that the platform was blocking users whose wallets were seen in transactions with the Tornado Cash mixer.
