NFT Marketplace OpenSea Acquires Dharma Labs

To help its effort to invest in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the Web3 ecosystem, NFT marketplace OpenSea has acquired digital wallet service Dharma Labs, according to a company blog post.

“Our teams share a vision that NFTs will be the cultural focal point of crypto’s adoption for years to come — and that vision can only be realized if using NFTs becomes easy and delightful for the average person,” OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said in the post. “Ultimately, we believe this union will be a force multiplier for NFTs and Web3 adoption, and help us dramatically improve the experience of buying, minting and selling NFTs on OpenSea — whether you’re a beginner or a pro.”

OpenSea, which bills itself as the largest NFT marketplace, said per the post that the acquisition also means that Dharma Labs CEO and Co-Founder Nadav Hollander will become OpenSea’s new chief technology officer.

The company said in the post Hollander has deep roots in the Ethereum community, with a career spent “building systems that adeptly mask the complexities of smart contracts and blockchains” for everyday consumers.

“Nadav’s impact will be wide-reaching, but his initial mandate will be two core priorities: improving the technical reliability and uptime of our products and building Web3-native mechanisms for engaging with and rewarding our early and loyal community,” Finzer said in the post.

Meanwhile, OpenSea Co-Founder and current Chief Technology Officer Alex Atallah will move into a new role, overseeing the company’s Web3 and NFT ecosystem development efforts, acting as a representative for the recently announced NFT Security Group, and leading OpenSea’s pending community investment efforts, the post stated.

Last month, OpenSea’s newly hired CEO, Brian Roberts, took to Twitter to quash rumors that the company was ready to go public, something many of its users don’t want.

Read more: OpenSea Only Thinking of IPO That May Include NFT Community, CFO Says