OpenSea Reinvents Itself as a Full-Crypto Trading Platform

After the NFT market crashed, OpenSea was forced to lay off more than half its staff. Once the dominant marketplace for digital art collectibles—from CryptoPunks to Bored Apes—the platform saw its revenue fall from $125 million in January 2022 to just $3 million by October 2023. Faced with declining interest in NFTs and aggressive competition from Blur, which offered zero trading fees and waived creator royalties, OpenSea’s leadership decided a radical reset was necessary.

CEO Devin Finzer held a meeting with staff in Los Angeles, announcing the layoffs and offering severance packages to employees who wished to leave voluntarily. Today, OpenSea operates with a leaner team, mostly remote, and Finzer himself frequently works from a co-working space in Manhattan.

Expanding Beyond NFTs

OpenSea has since pivoted from a pure NFT marketplace to a platform for trading all cryptocurrencies across 22 blockchains. This move allows the company to capitalize on the ongoing memecoin craze and broader crypto trading trends. The idea, credited to Finzer’s wife Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo, leverages OpenSea’s existing user base and positions the platform as a one-stop shop for token trading.

The strategy is already paying off: in the first two weeks of October 2025, OpenSea facilitated $1.6 billion in cryptocurrency trades and $230 million in NFT transactions, surpassing the platform’s performance in May. OpenSea aggregates buy and sell orders from decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and Meteora, charging about 0.9% per transaction, which generated $16 million in revenue over the period.

Lessons from Competitors

Finzer attributes part of the pivot to lessons learned from Blur, which disrupted the NFT market with a trader-centric, low-fee model. OpenSea’s earlier attempts to adjust royalty fees drew criticism, highlighting the risks of reactive management. Now, Finzer emphasizes trusting his instincts and keeping the company small, a model gaining traction in the AI era.

Meanwhile, Blur’s trading volume has dwindled significantly, underscoring OpenSea’s resilience. Finzer notes that crypto trading apps are abundant, but few offer seamless access to self-custodied assets across multiple blockchains—a gap OpenSea aims to fill.

Focus on User Experience and Compliance

OpenSea seeks to make token trading as intuitive as popular apps like Coinbase or Robinhood, while still providing access to sophisticated trading platforms. The company avoids full KYC verification but uses blockchain analytics to monitor wallets for suspicious activity, reducing regulatory exposure while maintaining a compliance-light approach.

However, Finzer acknowledges potential future risks, including regulatory enforcement and money laundering concerns. OpenSea’s dual focus on art NFTs and speculative crypto tokens also presents a challenge, balancing the worlds of financial speculation and digital collectibles.

Future Outlook

OpenSea is only partway toward its vision of a comprehensive token trading venue and has yet to release a new mobile app. The platform plans to launch its own cryptocurrency in the near future. Despite low barriers to entry in crypto trading, Finzer believes the company’s advantage lies in consistently delivering a high-quality product experience and building a trusted brand.