Opinion: OpenSea’s valuation has slumped from $12bn to $1.2bn

The NFT marketplace OpenSea valuation has fallen from $12bn to under $1.2bn. Such figures, citing OTC trades, are provided by Dovey Wan of Primitive Ventures.

Was offered a secondary of one big crypto unicorn a year ago at 12B val and now was offered again at sub 1.2B, and the co is blocking that sales so on paper it won’t be valued at 90% discount ?

Equity is really worse than nft … permissioned liquidity is the worst

— Dovey “Rug the fiat” Wan (@DoveyWan) September 19, 2023

According to the specialist, the team is blocking sales by investors who are trying to exit the project on the over-the-counter market. They are not interested in revaluing the NFT marketplace at a 90% discount.

“Equity is worse than NFT”, Wan noted.

Since August 31, OpenSea disabled the on-chain instrument Operator Filter, which governs the collection of royalties. The move did not receive the level of support the team had expected.

Later journalist Colin Wu accused OpenSea of blocking users for using the mixer Tornado Cash. He noted that the investigation is ongoing, and that the restrictions are driven by a proactive and strict policy of control on the part of the platform.

In August, OpenSea trading volume fell to $106m — the lowest since April 2021.