July 15, 2022
NFT marketplace OpenSea has cut 20% of its workforce. The decision was taken by the company to cut costs as the crypto world struggles to cope with the depreciation of digital assets.
“The reality is that we have entered an unprecedented combination of a crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability, and we need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn,” CEO Devin Finzer said in a statement on Twitter.
Finzer said the job cuts would allow the company to maintain five years of growth at current levels under various potential downturn scenarios.
Since Opensea refused to disclose the number of employees affected, it remains unclear exactly how many people are impacted by the cuts. However, findings on the company’s LinkedIn page indicate that it has 769 employees, which would mean that about 150 people would lose their jobs.
In the same statement, Finzer said affected employees will receive “generous severance” and healthcare coverage into 2023.
Opensea joins a growing group of well-known crypto companies that have laid off employees. Coinbase cut more than 1,100 jobs in the past month, BlockFi has laid off about 20 percent of its employees, or about 200 employees, and Crypto.com has laid off 260 employees.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
