Roberts Quits OpenSea After Serving 10 months
In an October 9 blog post, Brian Roberts confirmed his resignation from the OpenSea NFT marketplace, adding that he’s still bullish on the future of Web3 applications on OpenSea and its future market policies. He remarked:
“Well, it is time for me to come ashore from “the open seas. ” 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.”
In a subsequent post, former OpenSea’s top official confirmed that he would continue serving the NFT marketplace as its marketing advisor to enable it to navigate its course from time to time. Roberts noted:
“I will be staying on as an advisor to the company. I remain incredibly bullish on Web3 and especially on OpenSea. The company is heads down the building and I assure you, the best is yet to come. ”
Brian Roberts joined the OpenSea NFT marketplace as the chief financial officer in November last year after working with the ride-sharing application startup Lyft for more than seven years. Roberts also served as a Board of Trustee at Fred Hutch.
Roberts’ Exist Is Another Blow For OpenSea
Roberts’ resignation appears amid the undergoing bearish slump in the general NFT market that has left OpenSea plunging for five consecutive months. According to Dune Analytics, the trading volumes for NFTs have declined drastically in 2022 compared to last year.
The market data indicates that the total NFT sales volume has dropped from $17 billion in January to $466 million in September. However, despite the market meltdown, the OpenSea NFT marketplace has remained somewhat buoyant, generating $144 million in the third quarter of this year.
In recent weeks, OpenSea has embraced several innovations, including allowing users to list and purchase bulk NFTs and supporting Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions, such as Optimism and Arbitrum. The NFT marketplace hopes these innovations will navigate its performance back to an upside trend.
