The CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, stated that the renowned NFT marketplace is “open” to various negotiations, from collaborations to the sale of the platform.
OpenSea: is the NFT marketplace for sale? Here are the CEO’s words
According to what is reported, it seems that the CEO and co-founder of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, has stated that the company is “open” to negotiations.
There could also be the sale of OpenSea at stake, as Finzer said he has received interest for an acquisition, but without specifying when and from whom.
What is clear, however, is the sector collapse that has led the platform to have difficulty justifying its $13.3 billion valuation.
In this regard, Finzer speaks of an “open approach” in evaluating partnerships, acquisitions and therefore, also the sale of OpenSea. At the moment, there are no official news, nor an active search for a suitor.
Here are his words in an interview:
“The honest answer is that we have a rather open approach. We believe that if the right partnership were to present itself, then it would be something worth considering.”
OpenSea: the NFT marketplace for sale because of competitor Blur?
Always together with Finzer, the strong growth of the competitor NFT marketplace Blur has been analyzed, which in a way “overtaken” the primacy of OpenSea.
And indeed, since its launch in 2022, Blur has managed to establish itself in the NFT sector, with a current daily trading volume of 18 million dollars, about five times higher than that of OpenSea.
At the same time, OpenSea still has more users than Blur, but compared to January 2022, its monthly trading volume has experienced a 96% collapse.
In this regard, Finzer wanted to clarify that he is not discouraged by Blur’s performance, but yes, he cannot go unnoticed. Here’s what he said about it:
“We have only noticed that Blur has cut many different corners when it comes to its approach to legal and regulatory issues”
The crypto recovery and the NFT sector
While the position of OpenSea and the sale of the platform is not clear, Finzer also talks about a possible recovery of the crypto market, which could lead to a new growth for the NFT sector.
Compared to the NFT mania of 2021, the following years have been rather turbulent for the sector. Yet during 2022, the NFT marketplace acquired Gem, an NFT aggregation tool, Dharma, a first cryptocurrency wallet, and Mintdrop, which allows creators to quickly bring their collections to the market.
These actions carried out during the crypto winter have been opportunities for Finzer as a dealmaker, who seeks opportunities when bearish markets turn into bullish markets.
Not only that, for these first weeks of 2024, the CEO of OpenSea has declared to have had meetings with luxury brand executives to develop custom NFT projects, and participation in various events during Fashion Week this week in Paris.
According to Finzer, the presence of Gucci and Louis Vuitton in the NFT sector this year is different from previous years, as there is more market awareness. Here are his words on the matter:
“I think people are now starting to understand it more deeply. I was really impressed when I had these conversations, by the level of sophistication of the people managing these projects and initiatives.”
The dismissal of employees
Last November, OpenSea made headlines for a significant organizational transformation, which caught the attention of the entire crypto space.
In practice, OpenSea had decided to lay off half of its staff, raising doubts about its status.
In this regard, Finzer has now commented:
“The restructuring we have done has been aimed at changing the composition of the team to make it leaner and smaller, so that we can operate more agilely in the market, rather than downsizing it due to financial pressures”
