Quick take:
- Magic Eden says it is laying off 22 members of its team.
- The cross-chain NFT marketplace’s CEO and co-founder Jack Lu announced the “difficult” decision via Twitter on Monday.
- Lu said the decision was taken as part of “companywide restructuring” with the company looking to reach new goals in 2023.
Magic Eden has announced a “companywide restructuring” plan that will see 22 members of staff lose their jobs. The cross-chain NFT marketplace’s CEO and co-founder Jack Lu made posted a message on his Twitter account on Monday evening explaining the “difficult” decision the company had to take in order “to reach new goals in 2023.”
“As part of a company-wide restructuring, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with 22 teammates. Nothing about this decision takes away from the talent, hard work and dedication of this incredible group of people,” Lu wrote.
The announcement came just hours after Magic Eden revealed a partnership with leading web3 payments platform MoonPay that will enable its users to buy Ethereum and Polygon NFTs using debit and credit cards.
In the statement, Lu highlighted the company’s growth over the last 15 months, specifically pointing to its expansion to other blockchains, which necessitated a change in strategy.
“Just 15 months ago, we were searching for product-market fit on Solana,” Lu wrote. “Since then, our business has grown significantly and the nature of our challenges has evolved. Our focus areas for 2023 include growing traction across chains, developing services for NFT creators, and exploring new use cases like rewards and social experiences,” the statement reads.
The company assessed the new priorities to determine what structure and roles are needed to achieve them. Lu said it was clear that to address the strategic goals, Magic Eden needed to change the team. “In order to reach our goals, our team must encompass certain types of new skills and expertise without losing momentum,” he wrote.
Magic Eden said it will help affected employees during their transition, with a 2-month severance, and provide healthcare for another six months, whilst also removing contractual obligations like the 1-year vesting cliff, allowing laid-off employees to cash out their stock options immediately.
Magic Eden has been on a growth trajectory since last year, with the company expanding to the Ethereum blockchain in September. The NFT marketplace is looking to tap into new intellectual property rights opportunities created by onboarding new communities like gaming to Polygon.
With NFT transaction volumes beginning to bounce back after collapsing in the second half of last year, this would be an opportune time to explore new opportunities in the industry.
As demonstrated on the Dune Analytics dashboard above, NFT transaction volume has surged since December last year and remains on an upward trajectory.
****
Stay up to date:
Subscribe to our newsletter using this link – we won’t spam!
