Blockchain.com Slashes 28% Of Its Workforce Amidst Crypto Downturn

Crypto brokerage company Blockchain.com is among the recent companies within the industry that have planned to cut their workforce. Multiple crypto businesses have been severely impacted by the crypto winter, forcing them to lay off a large number of employees.

Blockchain.com announced it is reducing its workforce by 28%, leading to approximately 110 employees being laid off by the company. The recent round of terminations is the second in less than a year after Blockchain.com cut 150 employees in the month of July last year.

Blockchain.com cited the current market climate as the reason behind the layoffs as the company struggled with a massive loss of $270 million in loans it made to fund the now-bankrupt Three Arrows Capital hedge fund.

A Blockchain.com representative stated:

The crypto ecosystem is facing significant headwinds as its course corrects from the challenges of the last year. To better balance product offerings with demand, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce operating costs and headcount to rightsize the company.

Blockchain.com currently has about 280 employees left, after starting off with 160 members at the beginning of 2021.

The company added that all affected employees will be receiving severance packages. However, the packages will differ depending on the country an employee resides.

Crypto Companies That Have Cut Their Workforce

The industry as a whole has had a choppy start to 2022, which has even extended to the beginning of 2023. Some of the largest crypto companies have also cut their workforces significantly.

Earlier this week, Coinbase, which happens to be one of the most renowned exchanges in the world, announced its plans to terminate one-fifth of its current workforce, which would mean the loss of 950 jobs.

Kraken, another crypto platform, also stated that it would adopt a cost-cutting strategy after it shut down operations in Japan. It added that the shutting down of the Japan operations could potentially render 30% of its present workforce jobless.

Recently, another exchange, Crypto.com, announced plans to reduce its workforce by 20% in order to find a way to work through the industry-wide crisis that has been exacerbated by the FTX downfall.

Crypto.com is headquartered in Singapore, and this is the second round of employment terminations as the exchange previously fired 250 employees in 2022. This meant that over 2,000 positions have been cut by Crypto.com.

A Ray Of Hope By Binance

Crypto exchange Binance has continued to defy the tumultuous times witnessed by the industry. In recent developments, the exchange has received a license to operate in Sweden. Additionally, the exchange has been hiring while other exchanges have cut their workforces significantly.

Recently, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) revealed that the exchange intends to increase its workforce by another 15%–30%.

Binance will be going on a hiring spree for the second time in the last year, as the exchange hired almost 5,000 employees last year. Binance has also received licenses in seven nations over the last two years, fuelling the exchange’s hiring spree.