OpenSea's Valuation Plummets 90%: Why Hedge Fund Coatue Management Soured On NFT Marketplace

Coatue Management, a tech-focused investment firm, has lowered its valuation of its investment in the NFT marketplace OpenSea.

Coatue's stake has been decreased drastically from $120 million to just $13 million, The Information reported.

This adjustment suggests that OpenSea's valuation has diminished to approximately $1.4 billion.

This development echoes the conversations anticipated at the upcoming Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference scheduled for Nov. 14, where the valuation trends and prospects of digital assets like NFTs are likely to be a focal point of discussion among industry experts.

Additionally, Coatue has applied the same 90% markdown to its investment in the Web3 payment platform, MoonPay.

OpenSea, after a thriving Series C funding round in January 2022 which fetched $300 million with Coatue and crypto venture firm Paradigm at the helm, had reached a valuation high of $13.3 billion.

The current recalibration reflects a broader market downturn affecting the NFT industry.

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As a result of the persistent bear market, which has been particularly harsh on the NFT sector, OpenSea took the drastic step of announcing a 50% cut in its workforce on Nov. 3, a move aimed at streamlining the company ahead of its transformation into OpenSea 2.0.

OpenSea CEO Devin Fizner has expressed a strategic shift for the platform, emphasizing enhancing the technology, speed, and overall user experience.

Fizner maintains that a leaner team is essential for the company to stay "nimble and attentive."

The decision to downgrade OpenSea's value aligns with the declining enthusiasm for NFTs, a stark contrast to the peak interest in 2021, which saw a record-breaking $14 billion in sales.

Since the zenith of its popularity, the NFT market has witnessed an 80% drop in trading volumes since March 2022.

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