Crypto Exchange Gemini Lays Off 10% Of Employees

January 25, 2023 2:22 pm Comments

Despite the recent recovery that has been experienced in the crypto markets, it looks like some crypto firms are still suffering from the effects of the previous bear market conditions.

Crypto exchange Gemini just announced that it would be cutting roughly 10% of its workforce which may or may not impact the crypto markets.

However, exchanges reducing their operations or doing layoffs has not been new in the past year so perhaps investors are already used to such news.

As a result, it is possible that the market has already priced in such events happening again although it should certainly raise concerns for users who still have their assets on the Gemini exchange.

After all, the recent series of exchange collapses has encouraged many investors to hold their assets off exchanges and onto private wallets instead.

CNBC reports:

Gemini had 1,000 employees as of November 2022, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 100 people lost their positions. TechCrunch reported that Gemini had previously trimmed its headcount by 7% in July 2022, following a 10% staff a month earlier.

Other crypto firms like Crypto.com, Coinbase, Kraken, and Genesis have eliminated positions since Nov. 11, the day that Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy.

In early January, Coinbase slashed 20% of its workforce in a second major round of job cuts in an effort to preserve cash during the crypto market downturn.

“It was our hope to avoid further reductions after this summer, however, persistent negative macroeconomic conditions and unprecedented fraud perpetuated by bad actors in our industry have left us with no other choice but to revise our outlook and further reduce headcount,” wrote Cameron Winklevoss in an internal message obtained by The Information.

The recent layoff for Gemini’s workforce is likely because of recent events that have happened such as the fact that Genesis, a crypto lending platform, had filed for bankruptcy.

Unfortunately, Gemini was one of the largest unsecured creditors for Genesis where it had lent over $700 million in credit.

This then puts Gemini in an extremely weak financial position and many speculators believe that such events happening will continue this year.

However, this may be a good thing in the long term as it consolidates the list of crypto firms and exchanges to only those who have a good balance sheet and are in good financial situations.

Whether or not Gemini will continue to operate despite the recent layoffs is something that we should be able to see in the next year.

Bitcoinist.com concludes:

Gemini is not the only company reducing headcount amid the downtrend in the crypto market. On Jan. 10, Coinbase Global Inc. let go of about 1000 of its staff or about 20% of its workforce, making it the company’s third round of layoffs.

Three days later, popular crypto exchange Crypto.com also announced that it was laying off 20% of its employees. According to Co-Founder & CEO of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, part of the company’s decision to reduce headcount includes focusing more on prudent financial management and positioning the company for long-term success over time.

While crypto companies continue to announce layoffs, the crypto market has ignored the negative news. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization recently revisited the $1 trillion benchmark for the first time in months.

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