Crypto.com CEO Announces Another Wave Of Layoff To 'Reduce Global Workforce By 20%'

Crypto.com, the Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange platform announced that it is cutting off its workforce by 20% as the industry suffers from challenges caused by the controversial collapse of the crypto empire FTX.

The year is just starting but several centralized exchange platforms have already reduced their workforce, citing industry-wide challenges.

On Friday, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek made the announcement noting the decision was made because of poor market conditions and "recent industry events."

The CEO said, "Today we made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by approximately 20%."

He added, "As I shared with the team today, while we continue to perform well, market conditions and recent industry events have made this the right decision for the company at this time," adding that "all impacted personnel have been notified, and I want to share my sincere gratitude for their contributions."

The executive said that the decision was influenced by "ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events."

The latest move was made even though the crypto exchange grew to over 70 million global users.

"Several factors played into our decision to reduce headcount. While we continue to perform well, growing to more than 70 million users worldwide and maintaining a strong balance sheet, we've had to navigate ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events," the exchange said in its latest company update.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time Crypto.com reduced its workforce.

In June last year, the exchange cut 5% of its workforce, equivalent to approximately 260 people.

The company's decision last year, according to the CEO, was made "to weather the macroeconomic downturn" but he stressed that "it did not account for the recent collapse of FTX, which significantly damaged trust in the industry."

Last month, several crypto exchange platforms announced that it will reduce their workforce, including Swyftx, Huobi and Kraken.

Earlier this week, Coinbase announced a second round of major job cut that would reduce its workforce by 20%.

The crypto winter in 2022, which lingered until the end of the year is considered by many, as one of the harshest periods in the industry, which aside from major assets plunging, saw the global cryptocurrency market capitalization plummet.

But the industry entered the new year on a positive note with crypto assets' prices spiking and worldwide market cap surging to $945 billion, showing a 1.9% increase.