- Kris Marszalek announced a 20% reduction of their global workforce on January 13, 2023.
- Crypto.com previously laid off 5% of its complete workforce in June 2022.
- Kraken, Swyftx, and Huobi also announced layoffs.
The string of layoffs continues across the globe, citing a slower economy; the crypto industry is facing the ill effects of the bear market, and almost stagnant price action across the spectrum. CEO and co-founder of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, announced another streak of layoffs where 20% of their global workforce would be reduced.
On January 13, 2023, Kris said:
“Today we made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by approximately 20%. All impacted personnel have already been notified. These reductions were in no way related to performance, and we extend our deepest gratitude for all their contributions to Crypto.com.”
Although the crypto exchange grew to 70 million users across the globe, several underlying and serious factors forced them to make this decision, including the ongoing global and crypto-economic slowdown and sudden events hampering the normal functioning of the industry.
The growth pace of the company was affected by negative economic developments. However, the exchange was very positive at the start of 2022 and was trying to move along the trajectory of the broader industry.
Though the company was ready for foreseeable outcomes of the industry, the exchange was not ready to bear the biggest black swan event of FTX fallout. The incident affected them severely. So this could be the reason for the company to focus on necessary financial management and to make difficult but required decisions, even cutting down the workforce further for the greater good in the long run.
The first layoffs were announced in June 2022, lying off 5% of their global workforce, affecting nearly 260 people.
On January 10, 2023, crypto exchange Coinbase, citing the ongoing crypto winter and slow market, announced that they are cutting 950 jobs to reduce operating costs by nearly 25%.
Joining the suit of laying off employees, Kraken, Huobi, and Swyftx had also announced their intentions to reduce the workforce.
No company wants to lay off a good, capable, working team as it hampers the ongoing workflow. But as the storm hits the ship or the hull is breached, it is only logical to throw away heavier items, drowning you down. No captain wants this to happen and would do anything possible to avoid the situation, but when the time comes, he has to take some harsh decisions for the safety of everyone aboard.
The crypto industry went through a very rough phase in 2022, many huge storms hit the sea, and many huge ships drowned. Now as the storm can be believed to have settled, survivors are inspecting their hulls and dropping non-essential stuff in the water for survival.
Similar is the case with many crypto companies reducing their workforce; they are all doing this for the greater good of the firm and mainly for survival.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/13/crypto-com-announces-20-layoffs-werent-ready-for-ftx-like-event/