Bitcoin (BTC) is trading a few thousand dollars below its all-time high (ATH) of $73,750, and the global cryptocurrency market cap has risen to $2.46 trillion this year, but asset companies digital are still laying off their employees.
Just this week, three prominent crypto entities have announced significant job cuts, raising the question of whether the market is really in a bullish phase?
Crypto companies are downsizing
On October 29, Swiss decentralized trading platform dYdX revealed it was letting go 35% of its workforce, citing the need to stick to the company’s long-term plans. dYdX CEO and founder Antonio Juliano said the company realized the business it had built was different than it needed to be.
The decision was necessary for dYdX to focus on its vision with renewed passion and clarity. Juliano assured that the job cut was not an economic decision.
On the same day, MetaMask cryptocurrency developer Consensys announced that it was laying off around 160 employees, representing 20% of its workforce. The company cited macroeconomic challenges and the legal costs of regulatory battles as reasons to cut its workforce.
Notably, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent Consensys a Wells notice earlier this year. Although the SEC has yet to sue the company, the software developer filed charges against the agency and its five commissioners, alleging an attempt to control the crypto industry through enforcement actions.
According to Consensys, the decision to reduce its workforce would streamline its operations and position the company for innovation, long-term sustainability and continued leadership in the crypto space.
Is it really a bull run?
Additionally, the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, published a blog post on Oct. 30 stating that it was making “organizational changes” to ensure its top contributors are “focused to build more than to manage”. In other words, the stock exchange is reducing its workforce, although it did not specify how many employees would be laid off.
In addition to dYdX, Consensys and Kraken, Nova Labs, the developer of the Helium Network, cut 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 facilitate layoffs, but it appears to be the opposite
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