Nft marketplace OpenSea lays off 20 percent of staff due to ‘crypto winter’

The American NFT marketplace OpenSea is laying off a fifth of its staff because the sale of NFTs on the platform is falling sharply. At the beginning of this year, the company received another $ 300 million in a financing round.

A spokesperson for OpenSea reports to The Verge that after the round of layoffs, 230 employees will continue to work at the nft platform. According to OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer the round of layoffs is due to the ‘combination of a crypto winter and macroeconomic instability’. Finzer says he expects that during this lesser period there will be an “explosion of innovation and usability of NFTs”.

OpenSea is by no means the only NFT platform to say goodbye to employees. The crypto exchange Coinbase sent last month 1100 employees out. This is due to the declining price of bitcoin. The American game store GameStop recently released its own NFT marketplace. It was announced shortly before GameStop lays off staff, including CFO Michael Recupero.