92,000 TECH JOBS CUT IN 2026 ALREADY

As highlighted by @nicrypto, nearly 100,000 tech workers have already lost their jobs in 2026 — and the year is not even half over.

According to CNBC, over 92,000 tech workers have been laid off so far this year, per data from Layoffs.fyi, bringing the cumulative total since 2020 to almost 900,000. The scale of the downturn has prompted economists to warn that a structural shift in the labour market is underway, not a temporary correction.

Big Tech Leads the Charge

The layoffs have been concentrated among the largest names in tech. Meta announced it would cut roughly 10% of its workforce — about 8,000 positions — while Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts for the first time in its 51-year history, potentially affecting up to 8,750 US employees. Amazon has cut at least 30,000 jobs since October, representing about 10% of its corporate and tech workforce.

Oracle quietly eliminated more than 10,000 roles, with reports suggesting the total could reach 30,000. Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, shed over 4,000 employees — almost half of its workforce — with CEO Jack Dorsey citing AI-enabled productivity gains as the rationale.

Artificial intelligence is the common thread. A Resume.org survey found that 44% of US hiring managers expect AI to be a top driver of layoffs this year. Nearly half of all tech job cuts in Q1 2026 were attributed to AI and automation, according to Nikkei Asia data cited by Tom's Hardware. Companies are spending record sums on AI infrastructure while simultaneously reducing the headcount needed to operate.

Crypto Is Not Immune

The crypto industry has faced its own wave of redundancies. Crypto.com laid off 12% of its staff in March, with CEO Kris Marszalek warning that firms failing to integrate AI will be left behind. Gemini slashed roughly 30% of its workforce, while the Algorand Foundation cut 25% of its team, citing macroeconomic uncertainty and depressed token prices.

New job postings on major crypto job boards averaged just 6.5 per day in January 2026, down approximately 80% year-over-year. Recruitment agency founder Dan Escow has argued that many of the AI-framed layoffs are actually driven by old-fashioned cost-cutting, noting that entire crypto sub-sectors such as restaking, DePIN, and layer-2s have contracted sharply.

For displaced workers across tech and crypto alike, the outlook remains challenging. Glassdoor's Employee Confidence Index showed the tech sector experienced the largest year-over-year drop in confidence of any industry, falling 6.8 percentage points in March. With companies pouring hundreds of billions into AI while trimming headcount, the gap between job losses and new role creation shows no sign of closing soon.

Sources:

CNBC — 20,000 Job Cuts at Meta, Microsoft Raise Concern of AI Labor Crisis

Newsweek — All the Tech Giants Announcing Sweeping Layoffs in 2026

CoinDesk — Crypto.com Cuts 12% of Staff as It Integrates AI

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BSCN — Looking For A Job in Crypto? Now May Not Be the Best Time