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United States-based tech investment company Coatue Management has made significant adjustments to the value of its stakes in non-fungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea and Web3 payment provider MoonPay.
This week, The Information reported that Coatue had marked down the value of its investment in OpenSea by a massive 90%, reducing its stake from $120 million to $13 million. This suggests that OpenSea’s on-paper valuation has decreased to $1.4 billion. In addition to OpenSea, Coatue also reduced its investment in MoonPay by 90%.
This significant OpenSea markdown stands in contrast to the company’s previous achievements in its investments. In January 2022, OpenSea secured $300 million in a Series C funding round, led by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm and Coatue. At the time, the investment led to a valuation of OpenSea at $13.3 billion.
How is the NFT market performing?
OpenSea, like other players in the NFT industry, has been staring at a bear market, less prominent in the cryptocurrency industry, and a year-long decline in NFT trading activity. OpenSea recently announced a 50% reduction in staff and is set to relaunch the platform as OpenSea 2.0.
OpenSea CEO Devin Fizner noted that the new version of the platform will focus on upgrading its technology, enhancing speed, and improving quality. The decision to streamline the team is expected to make the platform more agile and responsive to market dynamics.
The investment markdown by Coatue coincides with a broader trend in the NFT space. NFT trading volumes reached a peak in 2021, with over $14 billion in sales recorded over the year. Since the boom, NFT popularity has seen a consistent decline, with overall trading volumes dropping by a significant 80% since March 2022. Despite the downturn in the market, there are some recent indications of a potential trend reversal. In October, the NFT market showed the first month of an uptick in volume and value in over a year, with a month-over-month increase of $99 million, reported by crypto data firm DappRadar.