According to Roberts, he will continue to serve as an advisor for the company as he is still bullish on Web3.
On top of the recent crypto market pulldown and the long winter, the industry has suddenly been hit by disturbing executive resignations. The latest to have its top executive resign is OpenSea NFT marketplace. According to reports, Brian Roberts, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of OpenSea has stepped down. He announced this on both LinkedIn and Facebook. Roberts was hired into that position in December 2021 after working with the ride-sharing application startup, Lyft for almost seven years.
“Well, it is time for me to come ashore from the OpenSea. I am grateful for the opportunity and proud of many accomplishments but none more than the strength of the finance team at OpenSea. I had the rare opportunity to build a team literally from the ground up and handpicked game changes. I’ve been working closely with Devin Finzer and supremely capable Justin Jow to ensure a smooth transition,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.
Roberts’ step-down comes at a time the NFT market is generally undergoing a bearish run with trading volume recording a drastic reduction from the previous year. According to Dune analytics, the total NFT volume was $466 million in September 2022 from $17 billion in January. Regardless of the general struggle, OpenSea managed to generate around $144 million in Q3.
The platform has also doubled down its effort to improve in terms of user experience and products listed. It recently announced a new feature that allows users to list bulk lists and purchases on the platform.
According to Roberts, he will continue to serve as an advisor for the company as he is still bullish on Web3.
“…and I will be staying on as an advisor to the company. I remain incredibly bullish on Web3 and especially on OpenSea. The company heads down the building and I assure you, the best is yet to come,” he added.
Within the period of the crypto bear run, many executives have stepped down from their roles. Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor recently left his post as the CEO of MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR). This, however, has not affected its plan of piling up more of the asset as it still emerges as the largest BTC corporate holder. Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer S. Daniel Leon also resigned on October 4 soon after CEO, Alex Mashinsky, also submitted his resignation letter. Celsius was offering yields as high as 17% on deposits.
Excellent John K. Kumi is a cryptocurrency and fintech enthusiast, operations manager of a fintech platform, writer, researcher, and a huge fan of creative writing. With an Economics background, he finds much interest in the invisible factors that causes price change in anything measured with valuation. He has been in the crypto/blockchain space in the last five (5) years. He mostly watches football highlights and movies in his free time.
