Amid market rout, Crypto.com, BlockFi lay off staff

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With the cryptocurrency markets falling nearly 200 percent from their all-time highs last November, major companies, including Crypto.com and BlockFi, have announced layoffs from their workforce.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will lay off about 260 people, or 5 percent of its corporate workforce, the exchange’s CEO, Kris Marszalek, said.

“(There are) lots of questions and speculation flying around regarding what Crypto.com is doing during the market downturn. Some of you (the staff) have been with us since 2016/2017 and have seen us building steadily with conviction throughout the 2018/2019 winter,” Marszalek said in a tweet.

He added that the company’s approach is to stay focused on executing against its roadmap and optimising for profitability.

“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,” Marszalek said.

BlockFi to axe 20% of staff

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency lender BlockFi will reduce its staff by around 20 percent, the company’s CEO Zac Prince has said.

“Like many others in tech, we’ve been impacted by the dramatic shift in macroeconomic conditions, which have had a negative impact on our growth rate. As a result, our number one goal has been to achieve profitability so that we can extend our runway and control our destiny,” Prince said.

“We are reducing our 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,” he added.

BlockFi currently has about 850 employees on its roster.

Earlier this month, crypto exchange Gemini had cut 10 percent of its staff citing the ongoing crypto downturn alongside macroeconomic and geopolitical factors as reasons for the downsizing.

Crypto exchange Coinbase also paused hiring efforts and rescinded a number of accepted employment offers.

In April, crypto derivatives platform BitMEX had let go of 75 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, while Argentinian exchange Buenbit laid off 80 employees, almost half of its roster. Latin America’s Bitso also let go of 80 employees, representing 11 percent of its personnel.