Crypto.com lays off 20% of staff as FTX contagion deepens
Crypto.com will lay off 20% of its corporate workforce, or nearly 1000 people, in order to adapt to current market conditions, CEO Kris Marszalek said in a tweet on Friday.
Company executives informed employees affected by the job cuts “as part of structural changes”, becoming the latest digital asset shop to downsize its headcount. Employees were told the firm was seeking to trim expenses and narrow its focus to more-promising businesses amid chilly crypto winter.
Marszalek said several factors played into their decision to reduce headcount. Despite maintaining a strong balance sheet, he claims, Crypto.com had to navigate economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events. He explains that they grew ambitiously at the start of 2022, aligning with the broader industry, but the trajectory has now changed with a confluence of negative developments.
Crypto.com said in July that it cut 5% of its jobs as one effort to cut costs, with reports that it unofficially laid off more circulated in August. However, CEO said these reductions did not account for the collapse of FTX, which significantly damaged trust in the industry.
“It’s for this reason, as we continue to focus on prudent financial management, we made the difficult but necessary decision to make additional reductions in order to position the company for long-term success,” he added.
Crypto.com isn’t alone in dealing with the effects of crypto’s collapse. Many other platforms are slashing hundreds of jobs amid huge withdrawals and regulatory scrutiny after the implosion of FTX. The cuts were also prompted by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, which muted customer demand, lowered trading volumes and cut sign-ups.
On top of those pieces of news was Coinbase, which cut about 950 jobs, or 20% of its workforce. That marks its third round of layoffs in less than a year. Kraken followed Coinbase’s move and let 30% of its workforce to go, around 1,100 of its employees. Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group also cut nearly 13% of its headcount to ride out a downturn in the crypto sphere.
Crypto.com made headlines yesterday after it told its Canadian customers that it will delist Tether’s stablecoin (USDT) trading, transactions, deposits and withdrawals by the end of this month.
The write-off of the world’s largest and most liquid stablecoin comes as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has banned crypto exchanges operating in the region from touching Tether (USDT). The decision dates back to 2021 when the stablecoin was deeply linked to alleged market manipulation, and it was the only prohibited digital asset in the country.
