Exchanges Kraken, Bybit and Swyftx Letting Go of 30-45% of Their People

With Bitcoin on a big downward spiral since the end of 2021, and the entire crypto market valuation only worth less than half of those times, exchanges are starting to reorganize their workforce to deal with the decrease in activity. Companies that increased their employee numbers during the previous boom years have had to cut back during the downturn as future appetite is not as big as they once believed.

Kraken lays off 30%

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, said last Wednesday that it is cutting off 30% of its global workforce, or 1,100 people, in reaction to the crypto market decline. Only six months ago, the exchange denied any layoffs and persisted on increasing its employment by 500 people. This is how quickly the cryptocurrency industry moves.

In a business update share on its blog, Kraken said:

“Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets. This resulted in significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups.”

“We responded by slowing hiring efforts and avoiding large marketing commitments. Unfortunately, negative influences on the financial markets have continued and we have exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand.”

Swyftx Australia

Swyftx, an Australian crypto exchange, announced 90 job cuts on Monday, blaming the crypto collapse.

Swyftx further said that it has no direct exposure to the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to the company, the employment losses are the result of the crypto market decline induced by FTX.

According to LinkedIn, the exchange employs over 200 people, implying that Swyftx is laying off approximately 45% of its whole staff.

Dubai headquartered Bybit lets go off 30% too

Dubai-based Bybit, founded in 2018 and ranked in the top 15 of largest exchanges by spot volume, also announced a new round of reductions in its workforce, this time affecting 30% of its staff. In a Tweet, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said it to be due to a “refocus” which the company has to do to deal with the “deepening bear market.”

Zhou also said that the redundancies will affect multiple departments and levels of seniority in his organization. He said:

“We are all saddened by the fact this reorganisation will impact many of our dear Bybuddies and some of our oldest friends.”