The long bear market slowed down the interest in cryptocurrency and hindered the operations of many industry players. To cope with the difficult times, some of the top exchanges such as Crypto.com, Bybit and Kraken laid off large portions of their workforce.
Despite the recent market revival, the trend appears to remain the same at the beginning of the new year. Gemini, Blockchain.com and Coinbase announced a new wave in layoffs.
The Dismissal Spree Continues
Unfavorable macroeconomic conditions have led to thousands of job losses. The FTX crash and subsequent domino effect seem to have triggered more layoffs. Below is a list highlighting crypto companies that reduced the size of their workforces between November 2015 and now.
The Argentinean exchange Lemon cash has been cut It employs approximately 38% of its staff, or about 100 people. Cavazzoli, CEO, assured that the amendments were not connected to the collapse in FTX. However, Cavazzoli admitted that the company had a “tiny exposure” to Alameda Research.
Bitso, a Mexican cryptocurrency platform Deleted At the end November, 25% of its staff were laid off. This was the second round of layoffs for the entity, which had previously fired 80 people.
The Kraken, a San Francisco-based company, also joined the list. Reduce Its headcount has increased by a third
It stated that “Unfortunately, adverse influences on the financial market have continued” and that it had exhausted all options to bring costs in line with demand.
Bybit Joined The exchange jumped on the bandwagon in December, slashing 30% of its staff, while Swyftx, an Australian exchange, was able to take over. Those who followed suit were also encouraged With a layoff of nearly 50%
Gate.io A trading venue located in the Cayman Islands. Huobi The new year was not a great start for them, with nearly half of the workforce being dismissed and 20% remaining.
One of the largest crypto exchanges is – Coinbase – Staff were laid off for the second consecutive time on January 10. Blockchain.com (28% and 6% respectively) was also affected. Crypto.com (20%) did it in the days following.
Other trading platforms have also reduced their team size recently. CoinDCXAmber Group Gemini (10) Luno (35%).
Other industry players
This list does not only include digital asset exchanges, but also companies offering different services. One such example is the cryptocurrency-focused investment firm – Paradigm. It Reduced Instead of sacking people, pay them salaries.
Octopus Network is a multichain network that supports Web3 applications. Discontinued 40 percent of its team members by the end 2022. SuperRare is the NFT marketplace Slashed 30% at the start of 2023, while ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company, was – Taken The “extremely difficult” decision to fire 96 employees.
Silvergate Capital – A crypto-focused bank with headquarters in California Trimming 40% (around 200 people) abandoned many projects due to insufficient revenue from the previous quarters.
Digital Currency Group, a venture capital firm run by Barry Silbert, was recently disowned 30% Closed Its wealth management division. This move was made shortly after Genesis, its subsidiary, announced a reduction in workforce. The platform also offers a number of other benefits. Filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Some Layoffs Until FTX Meltdown
The first wave was initiated at the start of Q2 2013 (coinciding to Terra’s fallout, and the subsequent market decline). BitMEX Fired 25% at the time, and another 30% a few months later.
Buenbit, the Argentinean platform Slashed In May, 45% of the company’s business strategy was changed in response to the global monetary crisis.
With Coinbase and Crypto.com, June saw many companies reduce their workforces. Gemini, Banxa, Vauld, 2TMAnd BitOasis These are just a few examples.
OpenSea, CoinFLEX Core Scientific WazirX, NYDIG, Dapper LabsMoreover, there were many more employees fired until the FTX crash.
Binance is Hiring
Contrary to all the job cuts, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has expansion plans. CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Assured In June 2013, the firm declared that it had a “healthy cash reserve,” which argues that the bear market is a great time to hire more people.
He doubled his monthly income. revealing Binance plans to grow its team by as much as 30%. According to Binance’s Chinese-Canadian executive, the team will grow to 8,000 by 2022 (up from 3,000 at the beginning of the year).