Lyft’s long-time CFO Brian Roberts, who took the company public, announced Monday that he was departing the rideshare company that he joined in 2014 to take the same role at NFT marketplace OpenSea. Roberts confirmed earlier reports in a Twitter post.
The departure is another signal of how executives and engineers are migrating from the “traditional” roster of big tech companies toward so-called web3 crypto startups. OpenSea is one of several fast-rising startups in the crypto space, which has seen renewed attention from venture capitalists who have minted dozens of crypto unicorns in the past two years.
OpenSea has been the poster-child startup of the booming NFT industry. The startup raised at a $1.5 billion valuation this summer. The Information reported last month that OpenSea had received offers to raise at a $10 billion valuation.
NFTs have had a particularly hot 2021, and while many foresaw the boom earlier this year being followed by a chilly winter of inactivity, the alternative asset class has continued to enjoy builds and busts of enthusiasm while serving as a lightning rod of online conversation and speculation. After an extremely active fall, OpenSea’s business has cooled a bit, but the marketplace still saw almost $1.9 billion in transaction volume over the past 30 days across over 240,000 active crypto wallet addresses.