OpenSea Shifts Focus to Foster OpenSea 2.0, Lays Off Employees

American Non-Fungible Token ($NFT) marketplace OpenSea has announced the company’s decision to reduce its workforce in an attempt to redirect its focus to foster innovative OpenSea 2.0. The company’s decision was revealed through an official X post by OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer, who wrote about the shift to “a smaller team with a direct connection to users.”

As part of introducing the marketplace upgrade OpenSea 2.0, intended to enhance the platform’s underlying technology, reliability, speed, quality, & experience, nearly 50% of the company’s employees would be eliminated. However, the affected individuals are guaranteed four-month severance packages, an accelerated equity vesting timetable, and six months of continued healthcare and mental healthcare services.

OpenSea CEO asserted that the marketplace envisions becoming a leader in the industry in response to certain comments from the community that OpenSea seems to be a follower rather than a leader. Finzer reiterated that OpenSea’s further journey towards an enhanced ecosystem with “speed, quality, and conviction” would also consider the existing community. He stated, “As we rebuild, we’ll continue supporting our existing products, and will be iteratively testing OpenSea 2.0 in public — remaining nimble, attentive, and focused.”

Chinese crypto reporter Colin Wu, on his official X page Wu Blockchain, shared a post revealing OpenSea’s new focus on innovation, reducing the workforce, and redirecting to “upgrading product technology, reliability, speed, quality, and user experience”. The reporter also shed light on the OpenSea market share that tumbled to 18% at the beginning of November from October 2022’s 73%.

According to Nansen’s reports, $NFT prices continue to fall, with floor prices of prominent blue-chip” collections declining by over 25% in August. Responding to the growing pressures in the $NFT market, OpenSea laid off almost 20% of its employees in July.