OpenSea investor marks down stake in platform by 90%: Report

United States tech financial investment company Coatue Management has discounted the value of its stake in non-fungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea by 90%. On Nov. 7, The Information reported on a file it reviewed revealing Coatue reduced its financial investment from $120 million to $13 million– suggesting that OpenSea has fallen to an on-paper valuation of $1.4 billion. Coatue also marked down its investment in Web3 payment provider MoonPay by 90%. In January 2022, OpenSea raised $300 million in a Series C round led by crypto equity capital company Paradigm and Coatue. The outsized financial investment saw the NFT platform valued at $13.3 billion.Following a stubborn bearishness and a year-long depression in NFT trading activity, OpenSea announced a 50% reduction in staff in Nov. 3 as part of its strategy to relaunch as OpenSea 2.0.1/ 9OpenSea is making some big changes today to focus on the next version of our item.– Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) November 3, 2023

OpenSea CEO Devin Fizner stated the new version of the platform will focus on updating its technology as well as increasing its speed and quality. To Fizner, a smaller team will allow for the platform to stay “active and attentive.” Related: Elon Musk slams NFTs however ends up arguing the case for Bitcoin OrdinalsIn August, OpenSea dealt with criticism after it announced it was retiring its operator filter, a function that allowed creators to blacklist non-royalties implementing marketplaces.Coatues markdown comes amidst a slump in NFT trading volumes. The sector peaked in 2021, tape-recording over $14 billion in sales throughout the year. Ever since, NFT popularity has been on the decrease with overall trading volumes visiting 80% given that March 2022. NFT trading volumes grew somewhat in October, hinting at a possible pattern turnaround. Source: DappRadarA Nov. 3 report from crypto information company DappRadar discovered the NFT market taped its first month of gains in over a year, notching a $99 million increase month-over-month in October. X Hall of Flame: Simp DAO queen Irene Zhao on why great memes are harder than trading