Bitcoin (BTC) is trading a few thousand dollars below its all-time high (ATH) of $73,750, and the global cryptocurrency market cap has increased to $2.46 trillion this year, but digital asset companies are still laying off their employees.
This week alone, three prominent crypto entities have announced significant job cuts, raising the question, is the market indeed in a bull phase?
Crypto Firms Reduce Headcount
On October 29, the Swiss-based decentralized trading platform dYdX revealed that it was letting 35% of its workforce go, citing the need to stick to the company’s long-term plans. dYdX’s CEO and founder, Antonio Juliano, said the firm realized the business it had built was different from the one it must be.
The decision was necessary for dYdX to focus on its vision with renewed passion and clarity. Juliano asserted that the job cut was not a financial decision.
On the same day, the crypto wallet MetaMask developer Consensys announced that it was laying off around 160 employees, accounting for 20% of its workforce. The firm cited macroeconomic challenges and legal costs from regulatory battles as reasons for reducing its headcount.
Notably, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) served Consensys a Wells Notice earlier this year. While the SEC is yet to sue the company, the software developer brought charges against the agency and its five commissioners, alleging an attempt to control the crypto industry via enforcement actions.
According to Consensys, the decision to slash its workforce would streamline its operations and position the company for innovation, long-term sustainability, and continued leadership in the crypto space.
Is It Truly a Bull Run?
Furthermore, the world’s fifth-largest crypto exchange, Kraken, published a blog post on October 30 stating that it was making “organizational changes” to ensure its top contributors are “focused on building rather than managing.” In other words, the exchange is reducing its headcount, although it did not specify how many employees would be let go.
Besides dYdX, Consensys, and Kraken, Nova Labs, the developer behind the Helium Network, slashed its workforce by 36% on October 25. Matter Labs, the company behind ZKsync, took a similar step in early September, letting 16% of its employees go.
The last time the crypto space witnessed a similar flurry of layoffs was during the worst of the bear market in 2022 and 2023. Rising crypto prices were expected to ease the layoffs, but the opposite appears to be the case.
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