NFT Giant Dapper Labs Announces Laying off 51 Staff Members

The digital asset market continues to experience one of its longest, most bitter winters in recent history, leading established companies in the space to introduce a fresh round of crypto job cuts. Prominent NFT firm and creator of the NBA Top Shot marketplace announced laying off 51 of its staff members.

The latest round includes job cuts for full-time employees as well as C1 contractors.

Dapper Labs’ Another Round of Layoff

Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou announced on July 13 that the move was necessary to ensure a “lean and efficient” company amidst the bear market.

“We said goodbye to 51 brilliant colleagues and friends today Dapper Labs – this is the note I sent our team. We remain fully dedicated to our core communities and committed to building amazing products that push the world forward together.”

This is the third round of layoffs following the downsizing of employees by 20% in February this year, during which Gharegozlou stated that the move was part of Dapper Labs’ restructuring plans.

The NFT giant’s headcount had shot up from 100 to 600 employees within a span of less than two years. This rapid growth proved detrimental to Dapper’s business and communities, which led to the first round of layoffs in November last year. The company had then axed 22% of its staff.

In a statement, Gharegozlou insisted that both Dapper Labs and Flow blockchain remains well-capitalized despite the layoff. The latter is funded with a separate pool of capital so that the team has several years of cash runaway without the need to sell tokens to fulfill short-term goals, the exec iterated.

NFT Market Feels the Chill

The NFT landscape has changed drastically since the bear market took hold. The past few weeks alone witnessed the floor prices of some of the largest and most prominent NFT collections sink to levels not seen in months. Popular blue chip projects such as CryptoPunks, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Apes, and Azukis have not been spared either.

A recent report by DappRadar also noted the troubling state of the NFT sector with trading volume tanking 38% to land at $2.9 billion in Q2. However, it stated that trading volume does not necessarily equate to the level of market excitement. The report read,

“The NFT sector displays resilience amidst trading volume drops, with a less severe decrease in sales pointing to sustained interest.”