BitMEX Slashed 30% Of Its Employees: Report

BitMEX, one of the biggest crypto derivatives exchanges, has fired more than 30% of its employees to move away from its "beyond derivatives" strategy, according to a report from The Block.

As a part of the "beyond derivatives" strategy, the exchange earlier debuted spot trading, brokerage and custody services and hired additional employees. However, BitMEX executives reportedly believe that it is now imperative to change the workforce as the crypto firm wants to expand deeper into the crypto derivatives industry.

"As an undesirable consequence, we had to make changes to our workforce," a spokesperson from BitMEX said in an email, as per the outlet. "Our top priority is to make sure all employees who will be impacted have the support they require. Each of them have been instrumental in the remarkable journey Bitmex has taken from its roots as a small startup to one of the top crypto exchanges in the world."

The spokesperson added that BitMEX will now focus more on "aiming at providing the crypto derivatives trading experience people will turn to." Moreover, the firm plans to shift focus to "liquidity, latencies and a vibrant derivatives community, including BMEX Token trading," instead of expanding to other sectors of the crypto industry.

This event came just a week after Alexander Höptner, chief executive officer of BitMEX, stepped down from his position, which he held for less than two years.

It can also be recalled that BitMEX let go of 75 employees in April, just weeks after co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.

The exchange also recently called off its deal with the German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt after announcing it in January.

It seems that the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, coupled with the collapse of crypto VC firm 3AC and crypto lender Celsius Network, has all affected crypto firms. Recently, Gemini, another crypto exchange, also laid off employees.