Crisis as Crypto Firms Layoff Over 3,000 Employees in January

Despite Bitcoin’s rise in January, one of the latest firms to lay off workers in the Web3 space is the Crypto services company Prime Trust, sacking one-third of its staff on Tuesday as per a report.

BREAKING: Crypto services company Prime Trust has laid off one third of its staff due to the impact of the pandemic. This is a major blow to the crypto industry and a reminder of the need for more robust safety nets. #cryptocurrency #crypto #PrimeTrust #layoffs

— BitArchive (@ChainArchives) January 30, 2023

The latest decision will reduce its pool of staff to 100 against the backdrop of the fact that Prime Trust had 312 employees based on its LinkedIn update. 

Overall, no fewer than 3,000 employees have been laid off by 14 crypto firms in just one month into 2023. Undoubtedly, the decision was separately taken to cut costs and financially get prepared for the bear market. 

A Review of Crypto firms Layoff in 2023 

There is no mincing word that January has been a tough one for crypto employees with leading crypto firms such as Coinbase, Gemini, Digital Currency Group, ConsenSys, and Blockchain.com, among others laying off workers. 

On Jan. 27, Bloomberg reported that Crypto platform Matrixport has sacked 30 staff in line with its restructuring policy. In the same vein, crypto lender Genesis sacked 30% of workers on Jan. 6 in its second round of layoffs in six years.

Surprisingly, the second cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume Coinbase executed the highest staff layoff for January, sacking around 950 employees on Jan. 10. 

Other crypto exchanges that took after Coinbase in trimming their pools of staff include Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi by 500, 330, and 320 employees respectively. 

It should be noted that the troubled crypto exchange Gemini also announced a fresh 10% staff cut on Jan 23, which marked its third round of layoffs in less than a year. 

It is baffling that all these staff cuts ensued in January despite Bitcoin (BTC) performing strongly in the month, targeting nearly $25,000 as institutional demand has continued to rise.

Given the prediction that the bear market is far from over as a result of pressing inflation and a potential rise in interest rates, individuals and institutions in the crypto space should brace up for a tough time.