The crypto market downturn given the interest rate hike, recession and inflation, etc. made many companies and institutions suffer the slowdown. Many of these companies opted to layoff their working staff in order to minimize their operational costs. Recently an Argentine crypto exchange Lemon Cash reported to reduce its employees.
Lemon Cash reported to show 100 employees the way out, this accounts for about 38% of its overall working staff. The crypto exchange Argentina and Brazil cited several reasons behind the decision including industry’s environment getting more gruesome and uncertainties in the venture capital market.
Marcel Cavazzoli, Lemoc Cash CEO said the layoffs affected the working staff in offices of both Argentine and Brazilian offices.
The company remained ahead of the other companies within the region who went on to vacant the staff. It includes Buenbit and Bitso like companies. The former reduced about 80 employees from its staff which accounts for about 45% while the latter also laid off 80 employees in May 2022.
Lemon Cash CEO said that given the uncertainties around the recovery of the venture capital market, it remains an issue for a company to be stuck with a hyper growth stage after Series A funding round and within for Series C. The company raised about 16.3 million USD in a Series A funding round in July last year. Extending the funding round, the company went on to add another 27.8 million USD. This way, the exchange received 44.1 million USD in funding overall, he added.
Cavazzoli said that the fundings provide them with the ability to go through tough times like the recent crypto winter. He said the firm is not seeking more investments from the market for the upcoming several more years. In case the market witnesses a sooner recovery, it would be great but even if it does not then also the company remains fine.
The executive said the company had the expansion plan across Brazil allocating the investment amount. In the current context, the company’s entry within the South American region would come as a more strategic move. Moreover, the company has plans to move to Chile, Ecuador, Pery, Colombia and Uruguay. This would take the time until the end of the ongoing year.
Lemon also had its funds within the Sam Bankman Fried’s beleaguered trading firm, Alameda Research, following the initial indication of upcoming chaos after the FTX collapse. Although it left some amount there, since the investment arm of FTX, FTX Ventures also made an investment in Lemon during the extension of the Series A funding round.
In 2019, Lemon Cash was founded and currently it held a user base of about 1.6 million people.
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/2022/11/26/crypto-industrys-challenges-leading-to-lemon-cash-layoff/