The conditions of the cryptocurrency market in 2022 have begun to look a lot like they had in the second half of 2018. With a bear market trend becoming apparent, crypto companies in the space have begun to let their employees go. The layoff spree had begun back in April with Robinhood, when the company announced that it was firing 9% of its total workforce. The slump in the market also pushed Bitsoto let go 80 of its employees in the month of May. It was not long after Bitso’s announcement that the largest crypto exchange in Latin America, 2TM also made a similar announcement.
The Coinbase-backed company disclosed that it was cutting down its workforce by almost 12%. 2TM stated that the conditions are such that they not only have to reduce their operating expenses, but also have to let some of their employees go. It said that they had done everything in a transparent manner and had honored every employee. Then came the owners of the Gemini exchange, twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who also announced that they would lay off 10% of the company’s staff. The co-founder of Gemini sent a memo to the staff on June 2nd, announcing the decision.
The company said that the decision was a difficult one because while the crypto revolution is a big one, its unpredictability makes things complicated. Even Coinbase announced that it was going to slowdown its hiring process because of the downturn in the crypto market. After this report came to light, the centralized exchange announced that it had gone as far as rescinding some of the offers that had already been accepted. Rain Financial Inc., yet another company Coinbase backs, was also on the list of crypto firms that have laid off their employees.
Joseph Dallago, the co-founder and chief executive of Rain, said that the crypto bear market had driven them to make this decision. He said that they were forced to make tough decisions because the crypto market was slowing down and they had to downsize their workforce to get through the uncertainty. On May 23rd, the chief executive of Buenbitalso announced that they were going to reduce their staff. Federico Ogue stated that after the technology industry had grown exponentially in 2021, they were now dealing with a period of review. Therefore, they had decided to cut down their staff and also go over their expansion plan.
The company said that they would focus on countries they were already operating it for maintaining an efficient structure. While it is difficult to predict how long this trend will last, the layoffs from companies in the blockchain industry shows that growth has slowed significantly and it has entered a bear market cycle. The last bear market had ended in 2020, after which the crypto market had seen huge hiring sprees, as companies had been forced to expand their staff in order to keep up with the growing demand.
