OpenSea’s Alex Atallah Taking a Step Back from the Platform’s Operations

Jimmy Aki
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Alex Atallah, a builder behind the successful OpenSea platform, has announced that he will be stepping down from his position at the NFT secondary marketplace. The co-founder of the premier non-fungible token (NFT) sales hub says his need to try out new adventures influenced his decision.

Leaving on a Good Note

Taking to his verified Twitter account, Alex Atallah said he would be stepping down from an active role within the company. However, he will still play a crucial role in the company’s continued growth as a board of directors member.

To clear the air around the sudden decision, the co-founder stated that he was leaving on a positive note. The soon-to-be-former chief technology officer (CTO) said his last day with the company would be July 30. From the 30th, he will take a month off from active duties to rest and recover.

Once the holiday is over, Atallah said he would focus on building something from scratch. His next venture is still under wraps. Atallah says he is not yet certain what he will focus on.

Atallah’s input has been felt since OpenSea, one of the best NFT marketplaces, launched in 2018. Working closely with co-founder Devin Finzer, the duo were able to move the digital art gallery from 100 listed NFTs to millions. The platform’s eureka moment and mass recognition came in February 2021 following phenomenal NFT sales spurred by Beeple’s works.

By mid-2021, NFT sales were on a geometric ascension and OpenSea saw traffic shoot up on its website. With only a handful of good stewards to man the available positions, Atallahhad no choice but to take up more responsibilities.

He combined as the head of marketing and looked after the platform’s venture arms and security outfit. Also, he was responsible for customer and community support while functioning as the head of business development and partnerships.

Atallah Passing on to Capable Hands

Alex Atallah has repeatedly stated that a growing sense of gratitude has spurred his decision to leave OpenSea. Atallah feels he needs to take a step back to help the platform grow. According to him, the new additions OpenSea made in the past year made the decision easier.

For the business development and partnerships duty, OpenSea employed the expertise of Ryan Foutty. Ryan Foutty is a former early employee of the renowned mobility company Uber. OpenSea claims that Foutty brought in the necessary content, integrations, and momentum for OpenSea to scale in a hyper-competitive marketplace.

Anne Fauvre-Willis has ably assumed the community and customer support role. Fauvre-Willis is said to be one of the emerging industry’s strong voices. Also, Whitney Steele has joined OpenSea as the head of marketing. Steele has been pivotal in rebranding the company’s image and voice in the NFT space.

Nadav Hollander will refine and stabilise the company’s technical direction. Hollander joined the company this year and has continued to raise the bar in terms of technical deliverables.

To round up the star-studded employee portfolio, Marko Iskander will be joining OpenSea as the new vice president (VP) of Engineering, this week. According to the followup blog post to company employees, OpenSea contacted Iskander during the NFT.NYC event. Iskander is expected to build a rock-solid foundation for engineering at OpenSea.

Kevin Pawlak will lead the OpenSea Ventures arm. Also, 0age will handle the NFT Security Group: two key roles once handled by Atallah.

OpenSea Users to Shave 35% in Gas Fees

OpenSea has retained its position as a top NFT market hub due to its continued innovation. Check out our OpenSea review to learn more about the most popular NFT marketplace.

In a recent blog post, the platform announced that it would be migrating its services to Seaport – a new web3 marketplace protocol created for safety and efficiency.

The benefits would see users enjoy lower gas fees of up to 35%, a capacity to bid on entire collections with similar traits or characteristics, zero proxy development fee, and digital signatures to confirm transactions on user wallets. Reduced gas fees would exponentially increase investors use of the platform.

About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.