CRO

Crypto.com to Cut 20% of Staff, About 1,000 Employees

by BSCN

January 13, 2023

Blaming economic conditions and the FTX collapse, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said 20% of the exchange's workforce had been laid off.

Bear Market Blues Hit Major Exchanges

Crypto.com is the latest Central Exchange to make significant cuts to its workforce, announced Jan. 13 that it will reduce its employee headcount by 20%.

“While we continue to perform well, growing to more than 70 million users worldwide and maintaining a strong balance sheet, we’ve had to navigate ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said in an announcement posted on the company’s website.

Marszalek cites “a confluence of negative economic developments,” punctuated by the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, as reasons for the significant move.

“It’s for this reason, as we continue to focus on prudent financial management, we made the difficult but necessary decision to make additional reductions in order to position the company for long-term success,” he said.

Last summer, Crypto.com laid off 260 employees, or 5% of its workforce. That pegs the recent round of layoffs at approximately 1,000 workers.

Recently, Coinbase.com and Blockchain.com also announced cuts, totaling 950 and 110 workers, respectively.

Hopefully, these affected workers will be able to find new employment quickly. This week, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said that his company plans to hire 15%-30% more workers in 2023. Such an expansion would mean the addition of about 2,000 employees -- about the size of the layoffs at Crypto.com, Coinbase.com and Blockchain.com combined.

What is Crypto.com:

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange that started operating in 2016. It has extended its reach to over 10 million users within 5 years. The platform was founded by Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Kris Marszalek, and Rafael Melo, with its headquarters in Hong Kong. In addition to the cryptocurrency application, the platform also runs the Crypto.com Visa card, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency card programs, the exchange, and a DeFi wallet. The exchange operates across 3 continents, the Americas, Europe, and Asia.