Weekly Crypto Roundup: firings, freezing, and falls
The Hindu
A now notorious decentralized finance (DeFi) platform called Celsius decided to freeze all withdrawals and transfers, citing “extreme market conditions.”
Crypto is chaotic on its best days, but this week saw a global descent into panic as crisis after crisis hit those invested in the sector.
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Firings
As prices of crypto currencies tumbled, employees of prominent crypto exchanges were laid off. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong admitted that the company had hired too many people as Bitcoin’s price rose to an all-time high to over $67,000 in 2021. But with prices falling since then, Armstrong said employee costs were too high in an “uncertain market.” The result: about 18% of Coinbase’s global staff members, including 8% of its employees in India, were shown the door.
Other large crypto exchanges, including BlockFi and Crypto.com, also announced plans to cut jobs.
Coinbase shared a ‘Talent Hub’ for affected employee to list their qualifications to find new roles.
The hub had 648 profiles as on June 17, and most employees were based in North America, followed by workers in Asia Pacific region. The two worst-hit departments were engineering, with 293 candidates listed, and customer experience & support, with 218 candidates.
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