Bybit has announced that it will be laying off nearly 30% of its global workforce, becoming the latest cryptocurrency exchange to do so.
The move comes as fears grow that the bear market is here to stay for the foreseeable future, despite minor market gains.
A Significant Cut In Workforce
Bitcoin has been unable to push back above the $20,000 mark, signifying that the bears have the crypto markets firmly in their grasp. This has had a crippling impact on the markets, as numerous companies and trading platforms lay off staff members to align themselves with the new market reality. The latest to join this list is Bybit.
With the overall cryptocurrency market vastly different than what it was just over a year ago, several companies have seen an adverse impact. Crypto exchanges have faced the brunt of these changes, and Bybit has become the latest exchange to slash its workforce. The Singapore-headquartered exchange announced plans to reduce its existing workforce by 30%. The move is seen as part of a larger reorganization of the business as Bybit looks to refocus its efforts during the ongoing bear markets.
Bybit CEO and co-founder Ben Zhou made the announcement. The CEO also apologized to those impacted by the cuts, stating that the downsizing was necessary.
“Difficult decisions made today, but tough times demand tough decisions. I have just announced plans to reduce our workforce as part of an ongoing reorganization of the business as we move to refocus our efforts for the deepening bear market. It’s important to ensure Bybit has the right structure and resources in place to navigate the market slowdown and is nimble enough to seize the many opportunities ahead.”
Details Of The Move
Crypto industry analyst Colin Wu shed some light on the recent layoffs, stating that the layoff ratio was 30%. He further added that the axed employees would get three months’ salary as compensation. The move comes after the exchange had also laid off 30% of its workforce back in June 2022. The platform had seen stunning growth, with its workforce swelling from just a couple of hundred employees to nearly 2000 at the height of the bull markets.
Bybit offers its users around 345 trading pairs and 265 coins and maintains a reserve of $1.88 billion.
Not The Only One Announcing Cuts
Bybit is not the only cryptocurrency exchange platform that has cut its workforce amidst the crippling bear market. According to data sourced from tech industry layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi, 17 crypto companies have undertaken significant staff cuts in November. Crypto.com and Coinbase were among the first platforms to announce cuts, with the former reducing staff by several hundred employees, while Coinbase announced that it was cutting 18% of its workforce in June.
The cuts in November saw Kraken announce that it was cutting 30% of its 1100-strong workforce. It stated at the time that the reduction in staff would take the company’s team size back to what it was just a year ago. Bitso and Coinjar also announced cuts at their end, while reports stated that Bitfront was completely shutting down. Other exchanges that announced cuts were Blockfi, which also filed for bankruptcy, DapperLabs, BitMEX, NYDIG, Mythical Games, WazirX, and Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx.
A Cold Crypto Winter Intensifies
According to Zhou, recent issues with Blockfi, which filed for bankruptcy, and Genesis, demonstrate that the current bear markets are significantly harsher than expected from both industry and market perspectives, adding that tough times demand tough decisions. Against this backdrop, the markets have made marginal gains over the past 24 hours. However, the overall picture remains extremely bearish. Total market capitalization is hovering around $900 billion but remains a far cry from their record-setting levels of over $3 trillion, achieved in November 2021.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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