Over the past two months, crypto companies have launched a wave of layoffs. The number of layoffs has exceeded 1,500, mainly from exchanges. Coinbase announced that 18% of the layoffs are large, but it needs to be emphasized that this situation is not only in the crypto industry. Including large real estate companies, financial start-ups have entered the stage of downsizing. But unlike other companies, the Binance founder said he would do everything in his power to use the bear market period to recruit top talent.
Corporate layoffs
6/14 CNBC pointed out that due to concerns about the rapid cooling of the real estate market after the frenzy, real estate companies Redfin and Compass laid off 8% and 10% of their staff respectively.
In addition, at the end of April, the commission-free brokerage platform Robinhood and the new buy-now-pay-later startup Klarna also laid off 9% and 10% of their employees, respectively.
As for the crypto industry, Coinbase, the benchmark for U.S. exchanges, made things even worse by announcing a one-off 18% layoff.
Coinbase: Scaling too much
CEO Brian Armstrong announced on 6/14 that it would cut 18% of its workforce of about 1,100 people. He lists the following reasons:
1. Expansion too fast
2. Rapid economic recession
3. Cost control is crucial during market downturns
One hour after Armstrong’s post, the laid-off workers will receive a HR notification, and Coinbase will subsidize:
1. At least 14 weeks of severance pay. Those who have served for more than one year will receive an additional 2 weeks of severance pay for each additional year.
2.4 months of COBRA health insurance, 4 months of mental health insurance.
3. The Coinbase team will assist in visiting the talent center and seeking vacancies in other crypto companies.
Other layoffs include:
BitMEX: 25%, about 75 layoffs.
BlockFi: 20%, about 150 layoffs.
Gemini: 10%, about 100 layoffs.
Crypto.com: 5%, about 260 layoffs.
Latin American exchange Bitso: 80 layoffs.
Argentine exchange Buenbit: 45%, about 80 layoffs.
Multiple encryption companies lend a hand
After Brian Armstrong announced the layoffs, TRON founder Justin Sun, data analysis platform Dune Analytics, and venture capital firm Delphi Digital chief operating officer Anil Lulla all issued papers to recruit talents.
Justin Sun said that his TRON DAO, the exchange Poloniex, and the stable currency USDD all need to be expanded by 50%.
Delphi Digital said it felt bad to see a full-scale downsizing of the encryption field, emphasizing that all its departments are still recruiting talents.
Dune Analytics is also calling for access to the official Discord recruitment list.
The founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, is one of the oldest. In an exclusive interview with Fortune Magazine, he said: Binance has a very healthy emergency fund. In fact, we are expanding recruitment, from engineers, products, marketing, and business to more 2,000 vacancies, it’s still early days in the crypto space, bull markets tend to focus more on price, and if we’re in a bear market right now, we think it’s a good time to bring in top talent, we’ll put it to good use, and we’ll use it to the best of our ability.
The mining industry is also facing the same situation. Under the current environment, powerful investors can consider entering the market gradually at the current low level and wait for the market to recover to earn more profits. Bitmain Antminer S19 is the main model currently on the market and can be overclocked with the assistance of liquid cooling technology, and its hash rate will be increased by 50% compared to normal.
Post time: Jul-31-2022