As a result of the crypto bear market downturn, 2022 looks a lot like the second half 2018 and crypto companies around the world are starting to lay off employees. Robinhood announced in April that it would be laying off approximately 9% of its workforce.
Bitcoin.com News reported that Bitso was laying off 80 employees because of the crypto bear market. Bitso announced that the Coinbase-backed 2TM Latin American crypto exchange detailed was going to lay off approximately 12% of its workforce shortly after.
“The situation required adjustments that went beyond the reduction in operating expenses. It also meant that it was necessary to fire some of our employees. 2TM stated that the process was conducted with transparency and respect in order to honor each employee’s legacy.
Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss wrote a blog post explaining that Gemini’s 10% staff would be fired. Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss wrote that he was writing to inform you about a difficult decision which will affect a few of you and increase the size of our team. The blog post states that the crypto revolution is underway and will continue to have a profound impact – but its trajectory has not been smooth or predictable.
Recently, RippleLabs executive Brad Garlinghouse stated to CNBC during an interview, that RippleLabs has a’very strong balance sheet’. Garlinghouse mentioned Ripple labs participating in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Ripple will be the buyer. Garlinghouse stated that he believes we are more likely to be the buyer than the seller at this stage of growth. Garlinghouse also stated that he anticipates a rise in M&A in blockchain.
Garlinghouse stated that he believes there will be an increase in M&A in blockchain and crypto. We haven’t yet seen it. However, I believe that it is likely in the near future. As that happens, I believe we will be able to consider similar things.
In the last quarter of 2021, there were a lot of acquisitions in crypto. In January 2022, Coinbase purchased Fairx Exchange, while Opensea bought Dharma Labs. Consensys , an ethereum software firm, announced its acquisition of Mycrypto. In March, fractional investing company Public announced that it had acquired Otis, a startup for non-fungible tokens (NFT) and digital collectibles.
In April, Bolt, , a payments and checkout network, purchased Wyre, for $1.5 billion. Huobi Global also announced that it had acquired Bitex, a Latin American crypto exchange, at the end May. In Davos, Ripple Labs CEO said the same thing as Sam Bankman-Fried, a billionaire and co-founder of FTX. He spoke about investing billions in M&A deals. Garlinghouse stated in Davos that there is a lot more room for growth in crypto and that they are looking at many niches.
The crypto asset xrp (XRP), has the sixth largest market capitalization of all the more than 13,400 crypto assets currently in existence. XRP has seen a loss of 59.2% year-to-date against the U.S. Dollar, and 34% in the last 30 days. XRP did not reach an all-time high seven months ago, as did many digital assets back in November 2021. XRP had its last recorded ATH on January 7, 2018, after the 2017 crypto bull market. XRP has fallen more than 88% from that ATH. Its market value represents 1.49% the total crypto economy’s $1.28 Trillion in value.
In a statement to Bloomberg writer Ben Bartenstein, Dallago stated that cryptocurrencies and global markets are slowing down. This has had an impact on businesses around the world. “We had to make difficult decisions in order to navigate this period of uncertainty, and we can confirm that we have reduced our Rain workforce.
Buenbit’s CEO explained May 23 that Buenbit had decided to reduce its staff. Federico Ogue stated that after 2021’s rapid growth in the technology industry, they are now going through a global review. We have decided to cut our staff and stop our expansion plan. This will allow us to concentrate on operations in the countries we are currently present and keep a self-sustaining, efficient structure.
While no one can predict how long this downturn will last layoffs are a sign of slower growth and a bearish market cycle. Bitcoin.com reported that many crypto companies were laying off employees after the 2017 bull market. The bear market ended in 2020 and the crypto industry saw massive hiring sprees. Employers were desperate to keep up with the demand.
Many firms are putting off or stopping hiring workers, but there is still a number of positions in the digital currency sector. Fidelity announced last week it intends to increase its workforce in the face of crypto’s downturn.