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Several crypto firms have made job cuts this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining \u201cimpactful\u201d employees as they prepare for a \u201clonger downturn.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 216 jobs were slashed between three crypto firms \u2013 open-source software laboratory Protocol Labs, blockchain data firm Chainalysis and U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with reductions of 89, 83 and 44 employees respectively.<\/p>\n
Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs, the parent company of Filecoin (FIL<\/a>), announced the job cuts in a blog post<\/a> on Feb. 3 stating that the company has had to focus its headcount \u201cagainst the most impactful and business critical efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n He stated that the company’s decision to cut \u201c89 roles,\u201d approximately 21% of its workforce, was to ensure it is well positioned<\/a> to \u201cweather this extended winter.\u201d<\/p>\n Benet suggested that the company must \u201cprepare for a longer downturn,\u201d given it has been an \u201cextremely challenging\u201d time for the crypto industry.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Bittrex employees were informed by CEO Richie Lai over email on Feb. 1 that the company has made a reduction to its workforce to \u201censure the long-term viability” of the company.<\/p>\n The email was leaked<\/a> via Twitter on Feb. 2, in which Lai stated that despite the leadership team \u201cworking aggressively\u201d to reduce expenses and increase efficiencies over the last several months, the efforts have not produced the “results necessary.”<\/p>\n Lai added that the market conditions have forced the company to reset their strategy and balance its \u201cinvestments with the new economic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Washington State employment data<\/a> on Feb. 2 it was revealed that Bittrex cut 83 jobs.<\/p>\n Related:<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>Crypto recruitment execs reveal the safest jobs amid layoff season<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Maddie Kennedy, director of communications at Chainalysis, told<\/a> Forbes on Feb. 1 that those \u201cprimarily in sales\u201d at the company were let go, as 44 of its 900 employees, approximately 4.8% of the workforce, were slashed.<\/p>\n These layoffs come after news that at least\u00a02,900 staff<\/a>\u00a0were cut across 14 crypto firms in January.<\/p>\n Coinbase had the largest layoffs amongst those firms, cutting\u00a0950 of its staff<\/a>\u00a0on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n Meanwhile competitor exchanges Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi had reductions of approximately 500, 330 and 320 staff respectively.<\/p>\n Cointelegraph reached out for comment from Protocol Labs, Chainalysis and Bittrex but did not receive a response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n