- Investment in MoonPay was similarly written down by Coatue by 90%.
- OpenSea said on November 3 that it will be reducing its workforce by half.
Coatue Management, a technology investment business based in the U.S, has written down its investment in the OpenSea NFT marketplace by 90%.
Documents seen by The Information on November 7 revealed that Coatue had decreased its investment from $120 million to $13 million, suggesting that OpenSea’s on-paper worth had plummeted to $1.4 billion.
Investment in MoonPay, a Web3 payment processor, was similarly written down by Coatue by 90%. OpenSea’s $300 million Series C funding round was spearheaded by cryptocurrency venture capital firms Paradigm and Coatue in January 2022. The NFT platform was valued at $13.3 billion after the massive funding.
Struggle Continues
Moreover, OpenSea said on November 3 that it will be reducing its workforce by half as part of its relaunch as OpenSea 2.0. Also, this came after a prolonged bear market and a year-long decline in NFT trading volume.
According to OpenSea CEO Devin Fizner, the next edition of the platform would prioritize technological upgrades and speed and quality improvements. Fizner believes that keeping the platform’s staff small would help it stay “nimble and attentive.”
Back in August, OpenSea took heat for saying goodbye to the operator filter. A tool that let creators exclude out markets that didn’t enforce royalties.
In the midst of falling NFT trading volumes, Coatue has reduced their investment. Sales in the industry reached a high of almost $14 billion in 2021. Since March 2022, when this downturn began, NFT trade volumes have fallen by an astounding 80%.
The NFT market had its first monthly increases in almost a year in October, according to a study from crypto analytics company DappRadar published on November 3. The month-over-month rise amounted to $99 million.
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