Tag: LAYOFF

Binance Plans 1,500 to 3,000 Layoffs due to DOJ Probe, Reported CNBC

by Blockchain News

The biggest crypto exchange Binance is reportedly planning to layoff between 1,500 and 3,000 employees by the end of the year, according to an anonymous source cited by CNBC on July 14, 2023. This move is seen as a response to an ongoing probe by the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC.

 Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) repsonse the news swiftly in tweet, stating

As we continuously strive to increase talent density, there are involuntary terminations. This happens in every company. The numbers reported by media are all way off. 4 FUD.

CZ also disputed the reported layoff numbers, calling them “way off” and attributing the inflated figures to FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) spread by the media.

Despite the layoffs, CZ emphasized that Binance is still in the process of hiring. He highlighted the company’s ongoing efforts to increase “talent density” and expressed optimism about the future, noting that the media’s continued focus on Binance underscores its significance in the crypto industry.

The layoffs occur as Binance faces severe regulatory obstacles. The exchange has been under attention from both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission due to allegations of improper treatment of client funds and running an unlicensed exchange in the country.

Both regulatory challenges and Binance’s rapid growth have been defining features of the company’s history. The exchange begin its operation in 2017, then quickly rose to prominence and expanded to become the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in 2019.

There have previously been speculations of layoffs at Binance as a result of a sharp decline in trade volume and regulatory concerns.

On June 6, 2023, Binance co-founder He Yi vehemently denied that the whole BNB chain team will be fired.

On June 1, 2023, according to unidentified sources and a 20% reduction estimate, Crypto writer Colin Wu first broke the news of possible layoffs. CZ responded by calling these allegations “FUD” and highlighting the fact that Binance has maintained a profit since its fourth month of operation, even through two crypto winters.

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Coinbase Says Goodbye to Over 60 Employees

by Blockchain News

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc has announced a fresh job cut of over 60.

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The job cut from its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams has come during a time when the crypto market has gone silent due to the dramatic financial crisis of crypto exchange FTX that involved more than one party.

Furthermore, this is the second round of job cuts at Coinbase this year, which has come about a week after “crypto market headwinds” contributed to the US-based crypto exchange’s net loss of $544.6 million for the three months ended September 30. In comparison to last year, the company had made a profit of $406.1 million.

According to a spokesman from Coinbase, the company believes that the job cuts will help smoothen the operation as efficiently as possible.

Coinbase cut off a total number of 1,100 jobs or 18% of their workforce in June. The move had come about a week after the company had announced an extension of the hiring freeze and a rescinding of accepted offers.

Previously, CEO Brian Armstrong had said that Coinbase had “overhired” and had to purge its workforce accordingly.

The crypto industry has suffered this year due to the higher interest rates and worries of an economic downturn. Major crypto companies such as Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network have already collapsed and are facing bankruptcy.

The crypto exchange seems to be struggling in this year’s bear market. Its quarterly revenue is down 28%, and trading volumes fell 27% during Q3 in 2022. While the company’s stock is also down nearly 80% this year and down 27.4% this month alone.

Another top company involved in the web3 space has cut off a big number of jobs. Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc has confirmed the cut of 11,000 jobs or 13% of its global workforce as it seeks to focus on its core business areas. 

Its metaverse engagements have taken a big hit since the company started investing in the space. As reported by Blockchain.News, Meta’s metaverse division recorded a $3.7 billion loss in the third quarter (Q3) of this year, a figure that has further highlighted the capital frailty of the company.

The recorded metaverse loss and the aftermath bordering on staff layoff might stir a significant slowdown amongst Web2 companies looking to make their forays into the metaverse.

The rationale is very simple and is bound to be hinged on the fact that if Meta Platforms could run at a loss with their massive capitalization, then the discovery of the company is more or less a gamble that may need to be waited out.

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Bitmex to Layoff Employees a Week After CEO Takes Exit

by Blockchain News

Another top crypto exchange has decided to cut headcount a week after its CEO took an exit.

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Bitmex has reduced its number of employees as part of a strategy to move away from the company’s “beyond derivatives” model.

“We are pivoting from our Beyond Derivatives strategy and will return much of our focus aiming at providing the crypto derivatives trading experience people will turn to,” according to Bitmex. 

“We are going to refocus on liquidity, latencies and a vibrant derivatives community, including BMEX Token trading.”

The company’s “beyond derivatives” included a push into spot trading, brokerage and custody services.

Bitmex had employed around 180 people as of September.

Initially, it was reported that Bitmex had let go of 30% of the workforce, but they later clarified that the number was lower. However, the company has released not released an exact number.

The company had previously laid off around 75 jobs after cancelling its plan to take over the German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt.

According to the company statement, they are “going to refocus on liquidity, latencies and a vibrant derivatives community including BMEX Token trading.”

They further added that the company’s top priority is to make “sure all employees who will be impacted have the support they require.”

Bitmex became the first crypto exchange for offering crypto derivatives after its establishment in 2014.

The cut-off has come a week after CEO Alexander Höptner quit less than two years with Bitmex, following which the company appointed Chief Financial Officer Stephan Lutz as interim CEO.

Höptner was drafted to bail out BitMEX when the previous CEO Arthur Hayes was under investigation by the United States market regulators.

Höptner took over as CEO back in January 2021 at a time when the exchange needed enough stability and a break from the legal onslaught that was launched by US regulators over its derivatives products. Drawing on his experiences with Börse Stuttgart, Deutsche Börse AG, and led Euwax AG, Höptner committed to changing the primary focus of the exchange from derivatives to other products.

Besides Bitmex, other crypto exchanges such as Crypto.com and BlockFi have also laid off their employees.

Crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi announced plans to cut over 400 jobs globally in June as they came under pressure from difficult market conditions.

Crypto.com said that it would reduce its workforce by 5%, which is about 260 employees. While BlockFi announced that it would lay off 20% of its workforce, around 170 people.

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One-third of Staff Laid Off in Digital Investment Group NYDIG: WSJ

by Blockchain News

New York-based digital investment group NYDIG laid off nearly a third of its workforce, about 110 people in total, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources with the matter on Thursday.

The layoffs have been conducted for about “a few weeks,” according to three people familiar with the matter, with company executives issuing formal notices of layoffs on September 22.

Bitcoin trading and banking firm NYDIG said the layoffs were part of a quest to cut spending and narrow its focus to more promising businesses.

NYDIG is a full-service, vertically integrated Bitcoin-only financial services company.

On October 3, NYDIG announced that CEO Robert Gutman and President Zhao Yan had stepped down, and NYDIG executives Tejas Shah and Nate Conrad took over as CEO and President, respectively.

Retiring Robert Gutman and Zhao Yan will return to Stone Ridge Holdings Group, the parent company of NYDIG.

Stone Ridge was founded in 2012 by current CEO Ross Stevens. In 2017, the founder launched the Bitcoin-driven New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), where he serves as executive chairman.

“The firm’s balance sheet is the strongest it’s ever been, and now we’re investing aggressively into a capital-starved market,” said Stevens.

On September 13, Stone Ridge Asset Management, a global asset management firm based in New York, announced plans to liquidate and dissolve its Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As of October 3, New York-based digital investment group NYDIG said it had raised $720 million for its institutional bitcoin fund, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Crypto Broker Genesis Cuts 20% Workforce, CEO Michael Moro Stepping Down

by Blockchain News

Genesis, a major institutional digital asset market and a full-service digital currency prime brokerage based in New York, on Wednesday announced several leadership changes amid the company’s efforts to boost the next phase of its growth.

Genesis disclosed that its CEO Michael Moro is stepping down, and the firm is slashing 20% of its 260-person workforce. The cut of 20% equates to the loss of around 52 jobs.

The downsizing exercise comes a few months after Genesis reported huge losses tied to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) in June.

Derar Islim, the Chief Operating Officer at Genesis, will take over as interim CEO while the firm searches for a permanent replacement.

The company said that Moro, who joined Genesis in 2015 and took over as CEO the following year, will stay on during the leadership transition.

Besides that, Genesis said it recently hired new executives as chief risk officer, chief compliance officer, and chief technology officer to strengthen its governance further and position the company for the future.

Genesis is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, a global enterprise that builds, purchases, and invests in blockchain firms worldwide.

Genesis started its crypto trading desk and lending business in 2013, when Bitcoin was trading just around $80. The New York-based firm is among the largest trading platforms in the crypto market.

Genesis facilitated significantly superior transactions last year when crypto markets were booming. The company’s loan originations soared more than sevenfold to $131 billion, and the firm increased its workforce by 22% to 170 employees. By mid this year, the company’s headcount rose to 260.

The rapid crash in the crypto market this year wiped out companies whose businesses were tied directly to the values of crypto assets. Firms, including Hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital, and Celsius Networks, among others, filed for bankruptcy after facing financial challenges triggered by volatile market conditions.

Although Genesis weathered the storm better than other participants in the market, the company suffered massive losses due to its exposure to 3AC.

In July, Genesis filed a $1.2 billion claim against the now insolvent Three Arrows Capital because of breached loans.

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Blockchain.com Slashes 25% Workforce amid Crypto Meltdown

by Blockchain News

Massive layoffs continue engulfing the crypto market. Blockchain.com took the latest actions by reducing its workforce by 25%.

Citing harsh bearish conditions, the crypto exchange laid off approximately 150 people and shut down its offices based in Argentina. 

Blockchain.com has been on a rapid expansion drive in the last 16 months as a pioneer firm in the cryptocurrency industry, with its staff jumping from 150 to 600. Per the announcement:

“Some 44% of the impacted employees are in Argentina, 26% in the U.S., 16% in the U.K., and the remaining from the rest of the world.”

The recent collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) dented the exchange’s financial position after losing $270 million. 

Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith mentioned in a letter to shareholders, “Three Arrows is rapidly becoming insolvent, and the default impact is approximately $270 million worth of cryptocurrency and U.S. dollar loans from Blockchain.com.”

The exchange has also stopped all mergers and acquisitions (M&A), reduced institutional lending, and slowed its establishment in the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. 

The crypto meltdown being experienced has seen Bitcoin (BTC) shed more than 65% of its value from the all-time high (ATH) price of $69,000 recorded in November last year.

As a result, the market downturn has triggered significant layoffs in the crypto space. For instance, crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi recently announced plans to cut over 400 jobs globally.

Furthermore, crypto exchange Gemini made the second round of layoffs, citing “turbulent market conditions.” Therefore, it seems the layoffs have mostly affected cryptocurrency exchanges. 

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Gemini Executes Second Round of Layoffs: TechCrunch

by Blockchain News

Crypto exchange Gemini has made the second round of layoffs seven weeks after the crypto exchange cut about 10% of its workforce, citing “turbulent market conditions.”

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A source in connection with TechCrunch told the publication that the layoffs were being executed due to “extreme cost-cutting.” The publication also added that there might be more layoffs in the coming future.

TechCrunch reported that although employees were not aware of the extent of the layoffs, the same source noted in Gemini’s companywide Slack channel that there was a reduction of 7% or 68 members.

Previously, a document which was shared around Gemini’s office and an anonymous professional network, Blind, on July 14 highlighted a plan that would trim the workforce to around 800 – or a 15% decrease from the 950 employees at the time – TechCrunch reported citing the source.

In June, the crypto exchange executed its first layoff since its inception in 2014, with 10% of its workforce being slashed as the founders cited a “crypto winter”.

Layoffs in the crypto industry are turning into a trend as prior to Gemini. Last week, popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea cut its employee headcount by about 20%. OpenSea, one of the largest marketplaces for NFTs, suggested that about 57 people will be laid off as it said it now has 230 employees.

While other top crypto firms such as Crypto.com, BlockFi and Coinbase are other victims of the crypto winter and have had to reduce the scale of staff recently.

According to a report from Blockchain.News, crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi also announced in early June plans to cut over 400 jobs globally due to the pressure from challenging market conditions.

Crypto.com had said it would reduce its workforce by 5%, which is about 260 employees, while BlockFi announced a 20% layoff of its workforce, which is around 170 people.

Meanwhile, U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reduced staff by 18% in mid-June, and the firm’s shares fell to nearly 79% throughout this year.

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OpenSea to Lay off 20% of Employees

by Blockchain News

OpenSea has become the new victim of the ongoing crypto winter as it has decided to slash its workforce.

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According to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace has announced that it will cut a fifth or 20% of its staff.

OpenSea, one of the largest marketplaces for NFTs, suggested that about 57 people will be laid off as it said it now has 230 employees.

While, according to TechCrunch, the company’s LinkedIn page indicates it has 769 employees, which would mean roughly 150 people lost their jobs.

Chief Executive Devin Finzer said in an internal memo to employees, also shared on Twitter, that the firm would provide severance and healthcare coverage into 2023 to those laid off. Finzer added that accelerated equity vesting will also be provided.

“The changes we’re making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at the current volume) and give us high confidence that we only have to go through this process once,” Finzer said.

The layoffs are a contradiction to Finzer’s claims in January after raising $300 million in venture capital funding when he said that the funds would be used to hire 90 new employees and establish a fund for creators.

As the crash in cryptocurrency prices has continued to wreak havoc on digital-asset firms, the market capitalization of digital currencies is now below $1 trillion – a big drop from nearly $3 trillion in late 2021, data from CoinMarketCap showed.

The layoff has come at a time when the NFT marketplace has been experiencing a declining user base. The decline initially started following a June incident when a former employee was charged with fraud and money laundering by the Justice Department. The prosecutors said that incident was the first case of insider trading of digital tokens, the WSJ reported.

Other crypto firms that have laid off employees due to the market downturn include U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc., which reduced staff by 18% in mid-June, and the firm’s shares fell to nearly 79% throughout this year.

According to a report from Blockchain.News, crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi also announced in early June plans to cut over 400 jobs globally due to the pressure from difficult market conditions.

Crypto.com had said it would reduce its workforce by 5%, which is about 260 employees, while BlockFi announced a 20% layoff of its workforce, which is around 170 people.

Data from The Block showed that the NFT market peaked in January with $16.6 billion in monthly volume, which was a robust growth from its more than $350 million in July 2021. However, it slumped down to about $1 billion in June due to a decrease in activity in the digital asset sector.

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Celsius Network Slashes 25% of its Workforce amid Potential Insolvency

by Blockchain News

Celsius Network’s woes continue to deepen because the crypto lending company has reduced its workforce by 150 employees, including those based in Israel, according to media outlet CTech.

The American-Israeli company let go a quarter of its workforce just a few weeks after it halted withdrawals, citing extreme market conditions, which resulted in rumours of insolvency. 

Nevertheless, Celsius has hired restructuring lawyers and consultants to solve its financial woes. The firm noted:

“We are focused and working as quickly as we can to stabilize liquidity and operations, in order to be positioned to share more information with the community. We are operating with the entire community and all clients in mind as we work through these challenging times.”

Celsius raised  $750 million in funding in late 2021, pushing its valuation to $3 billion.

Founded in 2017, the firm gave interest-bearing products to cryptocurrency owners who deposited their funds, with returns going as high as 18.6% annually. In turn, the firm would lend out cryptocurrencies to gain profits. 

Did Celsius bite off more than it could chew?

A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report disclosed that Celsius took more risk than it could handle because it had a total asset base of $19 billion. In contrast, its equity contribution was pegged at just $1 billion. 

As a result, the WSJ made the analogy that the company’s Asset-to-Equity ratio was more than double the average for all the North American banks in the S&P 1500 Composite index, which is close to 9:1.

These factors might have contributed to crypto exchange FTX shelving its acquisition of the company. FTX recently revealed that it turned down bailing out the embattled crypto lending platform because its situation was difficult to solve. 

Moreover, the crypto exchange poked a “$2 billion hole” in Celsius’ balance sheet.  

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Crypto.Com, BlockFi Announce Massive Layoffs as Economic Crisis Bites

by Blockchain News

Crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi announced on Monday plans to cut over 400 jobs globally, as they come under pressure from difficult market conditions.  

Crypto.com said that it would reduce its workforce by 5%, that is about 260 employees. CEO Kris Marszalek disclosed the announcement via Twitter social media: “Our approach is to stay focused on executing against our roadmap and optimizing for profitability as we do so … That means making difficult and necessary decisions to ensure continued and sustainable growth for the long term by making targeted reductions of approximately 260, or 5%, of our corporate workforce.”

Meanwhile, BlockFi also announced on Monday that it is laying off 20% of its workforce, which is around 170 people. Zac Prince, BlockFi CEO, said in a tweet Monday that the crypto lending firm is reducing its “headcount by roughly 20% and the reduction impacts every team at the company. This decision was driven by market conditions that have had a negative impact on our growth rate and a rigorous review of our strategic priorities.”

Recession Fears

Crypto.com and BlockFi have followed a series of various crypto firms faced with massive layoffs. Late last month, Bitso, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in Latin America, laid off 80 employees due to the recent downturn in the crypto market. Last month, Buenbit, an Argentina-based cryptocurrency exchange, also cut its workforce by 45%.

Earlier this month, Coinbase announced a freeze of its hiring for the foreseeable future and withdrew a number of accepted offers in order to deal with current macroeconomic conditions. Early this month, Bahrain-based crypto exchange Rain Financial Inc and Latin America’s largest crypto exchange 2TM also laid off over a dozen employees as digital asset markets remain red.

Crypto market is experiencing bad days as value of the digital assets plunged below $1 trillion on Monday, triggered by the announcement by Crypto lender Celsius Network that it paused all withdrawals and transfers between accounts, citing “extreme market conditions.”

The latest crypto crash marked the first time since January 2021 when the Bitcoin price fell to a low of $23,750 and the cryptocurrency market has reached as low as $926 billion, according to data site CoinMarketCap. In November 2021, the global crypto market peaked at $2.9 trillion but has been seeing a steady decline this year.

In the past two months, investors have dumped riskier assets amid high inflation and fears that interest rate raises by central banks will hamper growth. Extreme market conditions and central banks’ policy updates are exacerbating the consequences for digital assets.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 26,197.02 0.30%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,586.36 0.90%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 64.20 0.10%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 212.38 2.48%