Filecoin Creator Protocol Labs Lays off 21% Staff; Blames Market

• Recent industry events and macroeconomic factors were stated as reason for the decision by CEO Juan Benet.
• Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini among others that laid off staff. 

Decentralized storage network Filecoin’s developer Protocol Labs was in the limelight after mass layoffs of staff amid the extended crypto winter.

Protocol Labs lays off this Time 

Last year’s FTX crash (in led run-down market downturns, and macroeconomic factors in crypto sector were noted by the company. CEO of Protocol Labs, Juan Benet confirmed that the firm is laying of 89 people, almost 21% of it total manpower.

Chief Mr Benet wrote in a blog post on Febraury 8, 2023 that: “High inflation leading to high interest rates, low investment, and tougher markets have rocked companies and industries globally. The macro winter worsened crypto winter, making it more extreme and potentially longer than our industry expected. Millions of companies around the world have had to adapt to this dynamic landscape, and prepare for a longer downturn. No company is unaffected.’

According to media reports, the PGLO teams (PL Corp, PL Member Services, Network Goods, PL Outercore, and PL Starfleet) were afflicted due to the reductions of jobs from staff. Mr Benet also noted that “this has been an extremely challenging economic downturn, world-wide and especially in crypto.”

Other companies who laid off 

The crypto and blockchain-centred companies are no strange to staff layoff these days. Firms namely Gemini, Huobi, Blockchain.com, Candy Digital and more are some who have took the same decision. The crypto industry’s darkness started back from june 2022 TerraUSD crash, and then again uplifted with Sam Bankman-Fried led crypto exchange FTX bankruptcy. These black swan events wiped out billions of dollars from the market, leaving thousands of invetsoprs to mourn. 

Crypto empire of Kris Marzalek, Crypto.com, last month laid off nearly 20% from their global workforce. The reason behind that was ongoing crypto winter and “recent industry events.” This turn to slash employees came after June 2022, at that time almost 260 jobs, accounting 5% of manpower, were cut off. 

Ascoridng to a news website, as of February 3, 2023, almost 29,602 jobs are lost in crypto industry since April 2022. Crypto exchange Gemini laid off over 100 employees in January 2023. Coinbase also reduced 950 people, equivalent to 20% of workforce. 

According to CoinGecko, the crypto sector is positioned at tenth, in tems of layoff. Accounting for 4.3% of total job cuts in tech industry. The reports displaying stats claimed “This remained largely unchanged in 2023, with crypto making up a slightly smaller 4.0% of January 2023 tech layoffs, and still holding the 10th position based on cumulative numbers.”

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.

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