A Crypto Bank Cuts 20% of its Staff; Here’s The Reason for Layoff

On Tuesday, Mar 14, Anchorage Digital, a crypto bank, announced they are cutting their staff by 20%. The crypto bank is a financial services startup whose recent decision made nearly 75 employees end their employment with the firm. This crypto bank is the first federally chartered crypto bank that received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021.

Crypto Bank Cited The ‘Reason’

Anchorage Digital is a newcomer in the crypto industry, which now becomes a member that slashed staff. This decision is because the crypto industry continues to grapple with a major market downturn for digital assets. According to Anchorage, they are laying off nearly 20% of its staff, or 75 people, and cited the “uncertain crypto regulatory landscape in the US” as a factor in its decision.

This is not new to hear layoff news from companies in today’s tough market scenario. The US market is healing from the effect of the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). While two crypto-linked banks, Silvergate and Signature bank, also recently announced their shutdown.

In this year till now, Coinbase Global Inc., Blockchain(dot)com, Genesis, and Crypto(dot)com also laid off staff, leading to over 2,000 job cuts. In the last year, more than 26,000 were laid off in the crypto industry, according to a Forbes article. The reasons were the same, the cratering crypto prices from their dizzying heights, the collapse of a crypto exchange FTX, and the higher interest rates that stopped the investors from keeping away from volatile crypto markets.

Moreover, on March 9, Anchorage Digital Bank announced that ex-Regulator Julie Williams is joining the crypto bank. And this will be her first board position at a non-public company. In an interview, Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital Bank, said, “Julie is someone a lot of the industry has looked up to for a long time. In her time there, she was very well respected in terms of her legal opinion and understanding of what does and does not belong in the regulatory perimeter.”

What’s Happening in The Crypto Industry?

At present, the crypto market cap noted a 1.65% increase globally over the last day. Meanwhile, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $100.26 billion, which makes a 10.73% increase. The total volume in DeFi is currently $9.43 billion, 9.41% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stablecoins is now $93.56 billion, 93.32% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The dominance of Bitcoin is currently 43.76%, a decrease of 0.01% over the day, according to the data sourced from CoinMarketCap.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing