Whether it be a misunderstanding, a misrepresentation, or exactly what it looked like, Brian Roberts, Chief Financial Officer for OpenSea, found himself in some incredibly hot water from the crypto community.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Roberts stated that “it would be foolish not to think about going public” – A potential move that raised a few ears and perhaps a few pitchforks.
The crypto community is one that over all else, respects community power. OpenSea going public would effectively be seen as selling out to large institutional investors, and completely overlooking the fact that it’s the crypto community that has driven OpenSea to the levels of success that it’s enjoying right now.
The Community Giveth, and the Community Taketh Away…eth.
Twitter was awash with backlash from the community, some voicing their anticipation for Coinbase NFT, stating “If we are using corporate vehicles, we might as well use the one that won’t go down three times a week”.
It’s a shocking blow for OpenSea. Or at least it would be if CFO Brian Roberts didn’t seem to backtrack quite quickly, laying the blame on Bloomberg’s reporting being inaccurate, stating:
“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.”
Before this development, there were rumours that OpenSea would be airdropping governance tokens to longstanding members of the community, much like we saw with Uniswap. The legitimacy of these rumours is yet to be seen.
Hopefully this will be a very valuable lesson for Mr Roberts, as he’s very much new to his OpenSea role, after resigning from Lyft just a bit earlier in the week. I’m afraid the crypto community is a bit more close-knit than Lyft, Walmart, and Microsoft, Mr Roberts.
Whether this was a misunderstanding, a misrepresentation, or it really was exactly what it looked like, it’s clear that your inexperience in a community-driven industry perhaps has a ways to go.
Congratulations on your new position. Don’t let us down.
