Blockchain.com Cutting a Quarter of Its Staff: Report

The firm is reportedly closing down its Argentina offices and scrapping its plans to expand to other countries. 

Blockchain.com Cutting Workforce 

Blockchain.com is the latest cryptocurrency firm to slash its workforce due to harsh market conditions, according to a CoinDesk report published Thursday. 

The company is cutting 25% of its staff, equating to around 150 people, in response to the ongoing crypto winter, CoinDesk reported citing an email from a company representative. 

As part of its survival plan for the coming months, the firm is reportedly shutting down its Argentina offices and canceling its plans to expand to other countries. According to the CoinDesk report, 44% of those affected by the cuts are based in Argentina, 26% in the U.S., 16% in the U.K., and the rest are located elsewhere around the world. The affected staff will reportedly be offered severance pay ranging from 4 weeks to 12 weeks depending on their location. In addition to the staff cuts, executive salaries will also be reduced, CoinDesk wrote.  

Other measures Blockchain.com is implementing include a slowdown on institutional lending, mergers and acquisitions, and its gaming and NFT ventures, the report said. 

Many crypto firms have announced similar plans to Blockchain.com in response to adverse market conditions, with the likes of Coinbase, BlockFi, and Gemini all announcing major cuts of their own in recent weeks. However, Blockchain.com has suffered a particularly hard hit due to the market decline. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the firm had exposure to Three Arrows Capital before the hedge fund collapsed. Three Arrows defaulted on $270 million worth of loans from the firm as it faced insolvency, though Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith insisted that the firm was liquid and solvent in a letter to shareholders at the time. 

While Coinbase and other crypto exchanges publicly announced their staff cuts at the time, Blockchain.com has so far remained quiet. Crypto Briefing reached out to the firm for comment, but had not received a response at press time. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.