The leading cryptocurrency exchange and the provider of the eponymous wallet Coinbase decided to close its office in Chicago. About 30 employees will be left without work, said President Asiff Hirji and COO in an interview with the Wall Street Journal .
The Chicago unit was focused on high-frequency trading (HFT) traders, and an increase in activity in this potential could lead to an increase in Coinbase trading volumes and revenues. However, this direction, apparently, is no longer included in the priority list.
“Coinbase focuses on developing business with financial institutions such as hedge funds, charitable foundations and family offices, ” said Asiff Hirji.
HFT companies play a large, albeit controversial role in the US stock and futures markets. According to some estimates, they account for about half of the daily trading volume on the stock exchanges, but more traditional investors are wary of them, suggesting that such firms take profits from them, going in and out of stocks, while slower players make deal.
Coinbase announced plans to attract HFT traders through technical updates, including speeding up the engine for matching trade requests, last year.
Asiff Hirji also noted that as of the end of 2018, Coinbase had about 600 employees, and despite the elimination of 30 jobs in Chicago, the company intends to further expand it.
Earlier this month, it was reported that in 2018, a Californian company, despite the market decline, earned about $ 520 million .
Subscribe to the BlockchainJournal news in Telegram: BlockchainJournal Live – the entire news feed, BlockchainJournal – the most important news and polls.
BlockchainJournal.news
BlockchainJournal.news
