OpenSea cuts 20% of wages

OpenSea is parting ways with 20% of its payroll. We are talking about crypto winter and global economic difficulties.

The world’s largest NFT platform OpenSea is losing 20% ​​of its payroll. The information comes directly from its CEO, Devin Finzer, who just recently tweeted a screenshot of a Slack message he sent out to all employees. Devin Finzer blames the economic instability of cryptocurrencies and the economy as a whole. These layoffs, he writes, will prepare the company for a possible protracted downturn.

OpenSea cuts 20% of wages

“The changes we are making today allow us to cash out multiple years of operations in various cryptocurrency winter scenarios (5 years with current volume) and give us more confidence that we won’t have to go through this process just once.”

Since OpenSea did not disclose the exact number of employees it was splitting from, it is difficult to know how many employees are affected by these layoffs. But as soon as this story was published, OpenSea told Engadget that the company now employs 230 people. In the same Slack post, Devin Finzer says affected employees will receive “generous severance pay”and health insurance until 2023. Specifically, the company will offer 12 weeks of severance pay, an accelerated share purchase and six months of health insurance, among other perks.

Crypto winter and global economic difficulties are in question

In January, the company raised $300 million from venture capital firms, funds that will be used to hire 90 new employees and create a new development fund for authors. However, Devin Finzer did not mention these funds in his memo to staff.

OpenSea joins an already long list of crypto giants that have laid off numerous employees this summer. Last month, Coinbase parted ways with more than 1,100 employees, citing a crypto winter and broader economic difficulties. In June, BlockFi lost about 20% of its payroll (about 200 people) and Crypto.com laid off 260 people, just months after signing a $700 million deal for naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7

July 14, 2022