Alex Atallah, co-founder of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, told his team on July 1, 2022, that he was stepping away. His last day would be July 30, and he would keep his board seat1. The Block reported the news on July 2. Atallah had co-founded OpenSea with CEO Devin Finzer in 2018, and Forbes valued him at $2.2 billion at the time2.
Two leadership moves at OpenSea on the record since 2022
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 1, 2022 | Atallah left as Co-Founder. Alex Atallah left as Co-Founder of OpenSea |
| July 14, 2022 | Layoffs. Layoffs at OpenSea became public |
Nine executive exits on the record in 2022
Executive exits CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 9
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 | 11 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 27 |
The move
Atallah explained the decision in a message to staff that he later published himself. “I've made the very difficult decision to step away from OpenSea. My last day will be July 30, and I'll remain on the board,” he wrote. “I'm more excited than ever about OpenSea's opportunity, direction, and the leadership team at its helm”1. He said he wanted to return to "my primary passion: building something from zero to one," the line The Block also quoted2.
The post traced a handoff that ran more than a year. Atallah wrote that he had transferred business development to Ryan Foutty in May 2021. Community and support went to Anne Fauvre-Willis in October 2021, and marketing to Whitney Steele the same month1. By the time of his post, new hires Nadav Hollander and Marko Iskander had taken over as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering.
OpenSea before and after
The marketplace had seen just $500,000 in trading volume across its first two months, after its March 2018 seed round1. Only 100 collections were listed then, against hundreds of millions by mid-2022, Atallah wrote. OpenSea's leadership was working on a separate problem in July 2022, The Block reported. CEO Devin Finzer said the marketplace was redoubling its efforts to curb fraud and plagiarism on the platform, according to the outlet2. Atallah wrote he planned a month off in August before building something new.
What came next
Atallah's next company drew a reported price of more than $7 billion. TechCrunch reported on August 16, 2026, that Stripe had agreed to acquire Atallah's AI routing startup OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, citing a Bloomberg report3. OpenRouter had raised a $113 million round in May 2026 at a $1.3 billion valuation, with backing from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and Alphabet's CapitalG, TechCrunch reported. Atallah had described OpenRouter as "the equivalent of Stripe for AI," the outlet wrote, serving 8 million users across more than 400 models before the company Stripe itself agreed to buy it.
Sources
- Alex Atallah, "New beginnings," Mirror, July 1, 2022, https://mirror.xyz/alexatallah.eth/-8HvcUeO6wkrzV5xLR-Uv_OljE_Xci1yI6jUBGYJvmU
- Mike Millard, "OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah to leave company, remain on board," The Block, July 2, 2022, https://www.theblock.co/post/155615/opensea-alex-atallah-to-leave-company-remain-on-board
- Anthony Ha, "Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+," TechCrunch, August 16, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMipAFBVV95cUxOWE5zb2s5ZnFNRHkzRWl1OWlhMS1CUTc5b1lwRHl3eFNEWWlmdDByaDFRbDVrbmRTOUhGY0IyMU1QOXk1VktSSFBlZ2R3Q0pwSzhkN2pZbWgyRDdtYUoxbzUtRkh4N0xPdmJIRTE0SlZ2TnNNTjUzMGZVNnhycVNSWVB6T1hBTHVLcTBBaXlEZnpDVTQtaTZjVXUzRkxzSTBUUDVyOA?oc=5