Crypto firm Matrixport, led by former Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu, is laying off 10% of its staff, according to reports released Friday. Matrixport COO Cynthia Wu cited “changes in the regulatory environment” and “industry-wide capitulation” as reasons for the layoffs.
Matrixport Lays Off 10% of Staff as Crypto Winter Continues
Jihan Wu’sAccording to multiple reports on January 27, 2023, Matrixportis letting go of 10% of its employees. Bloombergdetailedthat the company’s head of business development and investor relations had left, according to unnamed sources. This news follows another Bloomberg report, published in November 2022, that Matrixport was seeking a $100 million loan from investors.
At the time, the companytold the publicationthat it was engaging with investors. In addition to sources from Bloomberg on Friday, the company’s COO, Cynthia Wu,confirmed to Coindesk’s Omkar Godbolethat the 10% job cuts were primarily due to Matrixport’s marketing department.
“We have sharpened our strategic focus on accredited investors in light of the significant changes in the regulatory environment following the industry-wide capitulation. Our team has been reorganized to reflect this change,” Wu told Godbole. ‘We continue to hire in the areas of compliance, legal, and product development, and the reduction in marketing will affect 10% of our headcount.’
Matrixport’s layoffs during the crypto winter are one of many cryptocurrency and blockchain companies letting go of employees. Recently, Huobi reportedly let go of 20% of its employees, andsourcesdetailed this week that Gemini is letting go 10% of the exchange’s staff.
Coinbasecut 950 employees at the beginning of the yearand Superlarecut its staff. During the same period it cut 30%of its staff. In addition, thousands of crypto employees were laid off during the last three quarters of 2022. Corporate giants such as Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have also let go large numbers of employees in recent years.
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