OpenSea Lays Off 20% Staff, Hoskinson Slaps Back, YachtZoo Accepts Crypto

OpenSea Lays Off 20% Staff

Opensea, the leading NFT marketplace, reported it is laying off 20% of its staff members. The company cited a combination of crypto winter and macroeconomic instability. Devin Finzer, the CEO of Opensea, tweeted that he has immense conviction in the NFT space & OpenSea’s role in it. In addition, he added that the changes made put them in a position to continue driving the space forward.

“When the global economy is uncertain, our mission to build a foundational layer for new, peer-to-peer economies feels more urgent and important than ever,” said Finzer on Twitter on Thursday.

Finzer continued to say that laying off 20% of their staff put them in a position to withstand five years of downturn in the cryptocurrency market. He added that the current market conditions were ripe for innovation and utility in the NFT space. 

Hoskinson Slaps Back

During an AMA session, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, hit back at Michael Saylor for calling Cardano a security. He said that Cardano is more decentralized and has more utility than Bitcoin. Hoskinson added that Saylor has vested interests in Bitcoin working out, otherwise he will face bankruptcy. 

“Nobody controls [ADA]. It’s completely decentralized, far more than Bitcoin. It has more use and utility. People buy the token not to speculate, which is the only thing they can do with Bitcoin. They buy the token to use it for stuff, medical records, and whatever else they’re doing because it has real-life utility,” said Hoskinson during the AMA session. 

 in an interview with Altcoin Daily, Michael Saylor claimed that Cardano and Ethereum were securities. “There has to be no issuer, no initial coin offering (ICO), no central organization, and if you study the history of Cardano, it’s pretty obvious it’s a security. It checks all the boxes, so I don’t know how you get around intellectually to convince yourself that it’s anything other than a security,” said Saylor during the interview. 

YACHTZOO Accepts Crypto

YACHTZOO, a Monaco-based superyacht brokerage in luxury yachts, announced that it is allowing clients to sell, buy, and charter yachts using cryptocurrency as payment. The company partnered with Bitpay, a cryptocurrency payment services provider, to make this possible. 

“Our collaboration with BitPay will allow our clients to sell, buy and charter a yacht with crypto, moving into international markets where credit cards are not always necessary. This will help reduce high fees and increase payment transparency and efficiency,” said YACHTZOO in the announcement.

Written by Lindi Miti © Crypto University 2022