Crypto winter continues to hit the industry from all angles, forcing some of its biggest players to scale back their expansion plans resulting in layoffs.
Approximately 23,600 employees lost jobs in the crypto sector as of Dec. 9, 2022. This figure represents the industry’s highest number of layoffs ever recorded within a year.
As reported, Coinbase ranks among the top on the list of firms with the highest layoffs in 2022, with about 1160 employees losing their jobs – 4.6% of the total crypto layoffs of the year.
Following closely is Kraken which laid off about 30% of its workforce, accounting for 1100 employees. Further, Bybit didn’t fall much behind as they carried out 1,020 layoffs.
Meanwhile, Amber Group, a digital asset firm, is next on the list, recording 800 discharges within the year. Notably, Huobi and Bitpanda were not unaffected, recording 300 and 270 layoffs, respectively. Others on the list include Snap, BlockFi, Gemini, and more.
Crypto exchanges enduring greater implications of the market situation
Statistics indicate that the prevailing bear market had a greater impact on crypto exchanges than other firms within the industry. Recall that most of these exchanges survive on transaction charges generated on their respective networks. The lingering bear market led to a massive dip in trading volume, thereby leaving them in a state of dilemma.
Despite this, layoffs in the crypto sector accounted for 4% of the overall tech sector as of November 2022, according to a report by CoinGecko. The tech sector laid off 100,000 employees, with the consumer technology sector accounting for 15.6% of all technology layoffs in 2022.
However, as the bear market lingers in the new year, there is still uncertainty that crypto firms will not continue the layoff trend. Silvergate Capital (SI) has already kick-started the first mass layoff of the year after dismissing about 40% of its workforce.
