OpenSea might be taking to the open seas of the NASDAQ after hiring the former CFO of ride-sharing giant Lyft, Brian Roberts.

What’s happening: OpenSea, the most popular NFT marketplace in the world, announced Roberts’ hiring earlier this week. What’s most interesting about Roberts is his last gig as the CFO of Lyft.

• Companies normally make senior finance hires—especially from other publicly traded companies—when they’re looking to go public themselves.

That got the crypto community all up in a frenzy. If OpenSea does choose to go public, they forfeit the option to transition to a DAO.

• Choosing to go public instead of decentralizing through a DAO will see the majority of value created on the platform transfer to the company’s owners and major backers.
• A DAO, on the other hand, would see all participants in the marketplace—including creators and investors—issued a token as a reward for their use of the platform.

In response to outcry from the community, the CEO of OpenSea tweeted that they have no immediate plans to go public and that they would incorporate the community into any decision on an IPO.

Zoom out: There’s a delicate balance for web3 companies to take. On one hand, the value of an IPO is an immediate infusion of cash that they could reinvest in the business (not to mention the payday it creates for owners and investors). But doing so could open OpenSea up to a revolt from their most loyal users who expect web3 projects to transition to DAO structures.