OpenSea CEO Calls FTX Collapse Opportunity to Rebuild Industry

The collapse of the FTX exchange was a “tragic event” for the industry, but also opened up the possibility of reshaping it with a focus on trust and further decentralization. Devin Finzer, CEO of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, said this in an interview. Decrypt.

“We are all feeling collateral damage across the industry. There is no doubt that this is a setback for the crypto industry,” he said.

According to Finzer, the NFT platform has not interacted with FTX or related trading company Alameda Research.

However, according to Crypto Fund Research experts, the bankruptcy of the exchange affected 25-40% of industry structures. FTX and related companies owed $3.1 billion to the top 50 creditors, according to court filings.

“I think for the wider crypto ecosystem and NFTs in particular, this crisis is a real opportunity to invest in strong and ongoing user trust,” Finzer said.

In his opinion, the recovery of the industry after the current cascading crisis may take up to two years.

“I have complete confidence in the overall resilience of the community and ecosystem, as well as the will to move forward and create,” Finzer said.

He also commented on the situation with the practice of refusing to collect royalties by NFT marketplaces. OpenSea introduced a new royalty collection tool in early November. Finzer confirmed that the platform has committed to continue making payments to collector token creators.

He called it a “first step” to maintain credibility with the authors. Decentralization also plays an important role in this, the head of OpenSea added. The marketplace does not take responsibility for user assets, unlike some other marketplaces.

Solana’s Magic Eden NFT platform was previously criticized for storing assets in an escrow wallet, which some Web3 developers considered risky. The FTX non-fungible token trading platform has also taken responsibility for users’ assets – now, due to the bankruptcy process of the group, they have lost the opportunity to operate with them.

“We work through a system of decentralized smart contracts and do not store user funds or their NFTs. Such a solution has many advantages compared to a centralized government, where everything is much less transparent,” Finzer said.

The collapse of the FTX exchange was a “tragic event” for the industry, but also opened up the possibility of reshaping it with a focus on trust and further decentralization. Devin Finzer, CEO of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, said this in an interview. Decrypt.

“We are all feeling collateral damage across the industry. There is no doubt that this is a setback for the crypto industry,” he said.

According to Finzer, the NFT platform has not interacted with FTX or related trading company Alameda Research.

However, according to Crypto Fund Research experts, the bankruptcy of the exchange affected 25-40% of industry structures. FTX and related companies owed $3.1 billion to the top 50 creditors, according to court filings.

“I think for the wider crypto ecosystem and NFTs in particular, this crisis is a real opportunity to invest in strong and ongoing user trust,” Finzer said.

In his opinion, the recovery of the industry after the current cascading crisis may take up to two years.

“I have complete confidence in the overall resilience of the community and ecosystem, as well as the will to move forward and create,” Finzer said.

He also commented on the situation with the practice of refusing to collect royalties by NFT marketplaces. OpenSea introduced a new royalty collection tool in early November. Finzer confirmed that the platform has committed to continue making payments to collector token creators.

He called it a “first step” to maintain credibility with the authors. Decentralization also plays an important role in this, the head of OpenSea added. The marketplace does not take responsibility for user assets, unlike some other marketplaces.

Solana’s Magic Eden NFT platform was previously criticized for storing assets in an escrow wallet, which some Web3 developers considered risky. The FTX non-fungible token trading platform has also taken responsibility for users’ assets – now, due to the bankruptcy process of the group, they have lost the opportunity to operate with them.

“We work through a system of decentralized smart contracts and do not store user funds or their NFTs. Such a solution has many advantages compared to a centralized government, where everything is much less transparent,” Finzer said.