NFT marketplace CFO Brian Roberts backtracked on IPO after crypto community backlash
Brian Roberts, the new CFO of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, has denied the company’s plans to go to an IPO (initial public offering). Roberts added that if such plans emerge, the company will discuss them with the community.
There was inaccurate reporting about @OpenSea's plans. Let me set the record straight: there is a big gap between thinking about what an IPO might eventually look like & actively planning one. We are not planning an IPO, and if we ever did, we would look to involve the community.
— Brian Roberts (broberts.eth) (@BKRoberts) December 8, 2021
After taking office on December 6, Roberts said in an interview with Bloomberg that he considers the main vector of OpenSea development to be an IPO to attract investment.
According to Roberts, investors will show a strong interest in the rapidly growing NFT industry, which is already profitable. However, at that time no decisions were made regarding the attraction of financing.
In the crypto community, Roberts‘ statement was perceived as an announcement of the company’s future IPO. This caused a negative reaction.
Jeff Kirdeikis, CEO of the TrustSwap crypto exchange, expressed disappointment and noted that the trading platform was making a mistake, since after a likely listing on the stock exchange, users would move to other NFT marketplaces.
Opensea going for an IPO instead of a community token, airdropped to their users, is about as tone-deaf as it gets.
NFT platforms are a dime a dozen these days, and loyalty changes quickly.
— Jeff Kirdeikis 🔁 (@JeffKirdeikis) December 6, 2021
According to Kirdeikis, the most effective and expected scenario for the development of OpenSea is the release of its own token by the trading platform, as the Binance crypto exchange did.
Roberts‘ statement was also criticized by Arthur Cheong, founder of the largest DeFi-crypto fund in Asia, DeFiance Capital.
Imagine being the largest and most successful NFT marketplace yet choosing to go for IPO instead of issuing token.
NGMI.
— Arthur (@Arthur_0x) December 6, 2021
OpenSea is one of the largest NFT marketplaces that allows you to create your own non-fungible tokens and sell them. The trading platform was founded in 2017.
