Crypto.com cuts 20% of its staff as layoffs continue to hit the crypto industry

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Early Friday morning, Crypto.com, the industry’s third-largest company by headcount, announced it would lay off 20% of its staff, becoming the latest industry player to announce cuts this year.

We grew ambitiously at the start of 2022, building on our incredible momentum and aligning with the trajectory of the wider industry. That trajectory has changed rapidly with a confluence of negative economic developments, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said in a blog post.

We had to deal with economic headwinds and unpredictable industry events, he added.

After Friday’s cuts, Crypto.com employs around 3,600 to 4,500 employees. Last year, the company announced a layoff of 5% of its staff, or 260 workers, in June. Another round of July-October layoffs at the company reportedly included 2,000 additional employees.

A company spokesperson would not comment on Crypto.com’s current headcount.

A view of the Turn 1 grandstand before the Crypto.com Grand Prix of Miami on May 5, 2022 at Miami International Speedway in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Hit by dwindling investor appetite for risky assets, cryptocurrency prices plunged last year, sending some highly leveraged investors to the brink. The impacts continue to ripple through the industry in the form of layoffs and bankruptcies.

In announcing Friday’s staff cuts, Marszalek specifically noted FTX’s collapse, “significantly damaged confidence in the industry.”

Just two weeks into 2023, crypto firms have already laid off more than 2,600 workers, according to Yahoo Finance’s tally.

Crypto.com’s downsizing follows Blockchain.com’s layoffs, which were first reported by CoinDesk and confirmed by a Blockchain.com spokesperson, which totaled 28% of its workforce, or 110 employees around the world.

Other layoffs announced in the crypto industry since January 5 include Consensys (at least 10% of its team, or 100 employees), Coinbase (20% of its team, or 950 employees), Huobi (20% of its its team of 200 employees). employees), Genesis (30% of its team, or around 60 employees), Silvergate (40% of its workforce, or around 200 employees) and the NFT platform SuperRare (30% of its workforce, or around 27 employees).

The story continues

According to an annual report by The Block Research, these layoffs come on top of at least 9,500 workers laid off by companies in the once bustling and now capital-strapped sector.

Meanwhile, the industry’s biggest player Binance, which hasn’t announced any layoffs since cryptocurrencies began to plunge last May, plans to increase its workforce by up to 30% in 2023. , CEO Changpeng Zhao said at a conference on Wednesday.

Binance had around 7,300 employees at the end of 2022, up from 650 in October 2019, according to Block Research.

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