Crypto.com, BlockFi to Cut Over 400 Jobs Amid Market Rout
The companies are the latest crypto firms to announce job reductions, joining Gemini and Rain Financial, among others.
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Crypto.com's "Fortune Favors the Brave" ad featured Matt Damon. (Crypto.com)
Crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi plan to cut a total of more than 400 jobs, joining an expanding list of crypto companies looking to reduce headcount.
- Crypto.com will cut almost 5% of its workforce, or about 260 employees, CEO Kris Marszalek said in a tweet over the weekend.
- BlockFi also said it would trim its headcount in a tweet thread on Monday. CEO Zac Prince said "roughly 20%" of its workforce will go, which would equate to around 170 people.
- The cryptocurrency market has been falling this year, having touched a peak value of about $3 trillion in November. On Monday it slumped more than 12% to slide below $1 trillion. Bitcoin has declined for nearly 12 straight weeks, marking one of the asset’s biggest slides in its lifetime.
- The firms join other major crypto companies laying off employees amid a turbulent market downturn.
- Winklevoss twins-led exchange Gemini cut about 10% of its workforce and Middle Eastern crypto-exchange Rain Financial – among other companies – said it was cutting dozens of jobs. Coinbase (COIN) said it would be rescinding some job offers and would pause hiring to cut costs.
- "Our approach is to stay focused on executing against our roadmap and optimizing for profitability as we do so ... That means making difficult and necessary decisions to ensure continued and sustainable growth for the long term by making targeted reductions of approximately 260, or 5%, of our corporate workforce," Marszalek said in a tweet thread.
UPDATE (June 13, 16:10 UTC): Adds BlockFi decision to trim headcount starting in headline. Adds market performance.
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