Crypto Firms Cut Nearly 3,000 Jobs In January Amid Bitcoin Rise

Crypto firms tightened their purse strings in the first month of 2023, with at least 2,900 cryptocurrency staff cut loose across 14 crypto firms in January.

iexclusivenews reports that the crypto infrastructure provider prime trust. Which reportedly reduced its employee count by a third. Is the most recent company to reportedly start laying off employees.

Prime had 312 employees on LinkedIn at the time of writing. So the reduction would imply a 100-person reduction.

Other recent layoffs include 30 employees from the crypto platform Matrixport, according to a Jan. 27 Bloomberg report. And approximately 100 employees from the crypto exchange Gemini, according to an earlier Jan. 23 report.

The largest January layoff was initiated by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Which reduced its headcount by approximately 950 employees on January 10.

Its rival exchanges, Crypto.com, Luno, and Huobi, trailed with employee reductions of around 500, 330, and 320, respectively.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiaries have also seen significant layoffs, with 485 workers laid off in January alone as the company navigates a financial crisis.

The DCG-owned Luno saw the most layoffs, while DCG cut 66 jobs. Its subsidiary lending platform Genesis cut 63 jobs. And its asset management firm HQ Digital closed down, affecting 26 jobs.

The list was completed by the 200 employees laid off by crypto bank Silvergate. The 110 employees laid off by the Blockchain.com exchange. And the 96 employees laid off by MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys..

Meanwhile, SuperRare, a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, laid off 20 employees.

These layoffs occurred despite Bitcoin’s (BTC) strong performance in the month, which saw it reach nearly $25,000 as institutional demand grew.

However, iexclusivenews Nigeria reports that large-scale crypto industry layoffs were not isolated incidents.

In January alone, 48,000 people were laid off by just four companies: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce.

While some may think the future holds more doom. Crypto hedge fund, Pantera Capital asserts that now is the best time to launch a blockchain business. Because bear markets offer “less noise and distraction from the building.”