Several cryptocurrency firms cut jobs this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining “impact” employees as they prepare for a “longer downturn.”
At least 216 jobs have been cut among three crypto companies — open-source Protocol Labs, blockchain data company Chainalysis, and cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with cuts of 89, 83, and 44 employees, respectively.
Juan Bennett, CEO of Protocol Labs, the company that launched Filecoin
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, announced the job cuts in a blog post on February 3, stating that the company should focus its headcount “against the efforts that are most impactful and most important to the business.”
He stated that the company had decided to cut “89 jobs”, roughly 21% of its workforce, to ensure it was well positioned “to weather this extended winter”.
Bennett suggested that the company should “prepare for a longer downturn,” given that it was an “extremely challenging” time for the cryptocurrency industry.
Meanwhile, CEO Richie Lai told Bittrex employees via email on February 1 that downsizing its workforce is “a guarantee of the company’s long-term survival.”
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The email was leaked via Twitter on February 2. Lai stated that despite the leadership team’s “hard work” to reduce expenses and increase efficiency over the past several months, the effort has not yielded the “necessary results”.
Lai added that market conditions forced the company to recalibrate its strategy and balance its “investments with the new economic environment.”
According to Washington State employment data on February 2, it was revealed that Bittrex had cut 83 jobs.
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Those “primarily in sales” at the company have been let go, Maddie Kennedy, communications director for Chainalysis, told Forbes on Feb. 1, with 44 of its 900 employees cut, roughly 4.8% of the force. worker.
These layoffs follow news that at least 2,900 employees at 14 crypto companies were laid off in January.
Coinbase saw the largest layoffs among those companies, laying off 950 of its employees on Jan. 10.
Meanwhile, rival exchanges Crypto.com, Luno, and Huobi saw cuts of around 500, 330, and 320 employees, respectively.
Cointelegraph reached out for comment from Protocol Labs, Chainalysis, and Bittrex but did not receive a response by post.
