OpenSea lays off 50% of staff with severance in preparation for version 2.0 launch

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced on Nov. 3 that it was laying off employees. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer broke the news on X (formerly Twitter), saying the company was launching OpenSea 2.0 with a smaller team.

OpenSea launched in 2017, when NFTs were an innovation. It operates on a model comparable to eBay and Etsy and accepts payment in Ether (ETH). It laid off 20% of its employees in July 2022, citing the crypto winter, after which it had a staff of 230, according to press reports at the time. A spokesperson at the pioneering marketplace told Cointelegraph by email:

“Today, we are making significant organizational and operating changes as we focus on building a more nimble – and ultimately better – version of OpenSea. We are immensely grateful for the contributions of those who are leaving OpenSea, and we are supporting them with a robust package consisting of both financial and non-financial support.”

The spokesperson added that around 50% of employees would be affected across all functions and particularly mentioned that the number of middle managers would be reduced. The employees would receive four-month severance packages, accelerated equity vesting and six months of continued healthcare and mental health care.

The market for collectible NFTs peaked in 2021. Since then, use cases such as tokenizing assets, identity and legal documents have gained popularity as the value of many collectibles declined.

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