Blockchain.com Cuts 25% of Its Workforce (coindesk.com) 12
Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com is cutting 25% of its workforce, equating to about 150 people, the firm said on Thursday. CoinDesk reports: The company cited the harsh bear market conditions and the need to absorb financial losses. The exchange recently revealed it was dealing with a $270 million shortfall from lending to beleaguered hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. Blockchain.com said it will close its Argentina-based offices and cancel team expansion plans in several countries. Some 44% of the affected employees are in Argentina, 26% in the U.S., 16% in the U.K. and the rest in other countries, the company said. The reduction brings the firm's staffing back to January levels, a representative told CoinDesk via email.
Blockchain.com has expanded rapidly in the past 16 months, growing from 150 employees to more than 600. Blockchain.com, which is one of the oldest firms in the crypto industry, is also shrinking its institutional lending business, halting all mergers and acquisitions, placing a pause on efforts to expand gaming and slowing its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The firm said its most active demand was coming from Europe, the U.S. and Africa, as opposed to Latin America. It also said it was receiving more demand from brokerage, rather than gaming.
Blockchain.com has expanded rapidly in the past 16 months, growing from 150 employees to more than 600. Blockchain.com, which is one of the oldest firms in the crypto industry, is also shrinking its institutional lending business, halting all mergers and acquisitions, placing a pause on efforts to expand gaming and slowing its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The firm said its most active demand was coming from Europe, the U.S. and Africa, as opposed to Latin America. It also said it was receiving more demand from brokerage, rather than gaming.
Oh No! (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway...
Localized recession? (Score:3, Interesting)
Seems like just recently we are seeing some drops in unemployment but there is a case to be made that even with the rising interest rates and inflation the economy is still pretty heated. Inflation is dropping, gas is dropping by, UE is still quite low (although starting to rise) and wage growth is still underway.
I wonder if we are going to see the big layoffs and recession from growth the hardest in what seems to be the "easy money" industries that seemingly rely on an environment of really low cost loans and capital. Crypto is a prime examples but seems like any type of fintech or very speculative industry, the things that deal not with products but just money on top of money. (I am not an economist)
If inflation keeps dropping and the UE rate doesn't rise too much in that timeframe the average person could wind up pretty OK at the end of this and good justification of keeping interest rates and a relatiely high rate but more in line with past decades. Housing is still a problem of course.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The pain hasn't even started yet.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Seems like just recently we are seeing some drops in unemployment but there is a case to be made that even with the rising interest rates and inflation the economy is still pretty heated. Inflation is dropping, gas is dropping by, UE is still quite low (although starting to rise) and wage growth is still underway.
The moment there's a weak economy, I figure that crypto people are going to want their money out, and discover that it doesn't work that way if there aren't lots of people with money to invest.
Re: Localized recession? (Score:2)
Inflation isnt dropping, it is leveling off. 14 years of pent up inflation.
As for unemployment. Most companies are massively short staffed as it is. They can do some layoffs but not many
Feel for them. (Score:2)
Who? (Score:2)
Pay severance in NFTs (Score:2)
Need the SHA-256 hash of 25... (Score:2)
to know if this is meaningful.
Hardly surprising (Score:1)