Much to everyone's surprise, the Crypto market has been suffering massive doldrums of late, with reportedly total market capitalization of crypto below $1 trillion for more than a week now.
Following the brutal carnage and unabated liquidations from the crypto space, several exchanges paused the withdrawals from their platform, increasing investors' worry. Multiple crypto exchanges have announced layoffs that will, by Insider's calculations, add up to roughly 1,700 job cuts in total.
The post-massive debacle in the crypto market, listed crypto business firms are losing interest from investors and facing severe downgrades from the brokerage at large.
Notably, the performance of these companies has been highly disappointing. Amongst the most prominent layoffs was Gemini which on June 2 announced that it would be cutting about 10% of its workforce. The company has an estimated 1,000 employees, which means 100 of them stand to be laid off. Crypto.com notified on June 11 that it was terminating 5 per cent of its workforce or 260 employees. While, on June 14, BlockFi said it was reducing 20% of its 850-strong workforce or fire 170 employees.
Just like big fishes, smaller ones were not spared either as Argentina's Buenbit said that it had cut about 45% of its workforce, which is an estimated 80 employees, per CoinDesk's calculations. Mexico-based Bitso said on May 26 it had laid off 80 employees. According to several reports and LinkedIn posts, the layoffs have already begun at Crypto.com, BlockFi, and Coinbase. Gemini's co-founders said in a blog post that affected employees were notified on June 2.
Both Buenbit and Bitso said layoffs have begun. In a recent interaction, Coinbase's CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong has reportedly informed us that the market is heading into recession after a ten-plus year of economic boom. "A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period," Coinbase's CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong said in a June 14 blog post, in which he announced the layoffs.
BlockFi cofounders Zac Prince and Flori Marquez wrote that "our number one goal has been to achieve profitability so that we can own our destiny as we navigate what many expect to be an extended global recession." Crypto winter, or the multitrillion-dollar slump in cryptocurrency prices, comes after the industry hit record highs in late 2021.
The global cryptocurrency market peaked at $3 trillion in November, making it more valuable than either Microsoft or Apple at the time. But now, fears of an impending recession and soaring inflation are prompting investors to flee cryptocurrencies. As of Wednesday, the crypto market is worth about $903.2 billion, as per CoinMarketCap.
But one major crypto exchange stands apart from its competitors. Leaders at Binance said earlier this month that the company could still afford to hire more than 2,000 roles this year hoping on revival soon. But the future of crypto market remains more shaky than ever.
