Crypto layoffs slow, with layoffs falling to 570 in February
Layoffs in the crypto industry appear to have slowed significantly in the past month with an estimated 570 crypto employees laid off in February, down from an estimated 2,850 in January.
Cointelegraph compiled the numbers based on publicly reported layoffs and found that layoffs were spread across at least 12 companies over the 28-day period, but were noticeably missing the triple-digit crypto exchange layoffs collected in January, such as those from Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Huobi.
Instead, job cuts were mostly in the double digits – affecting blockchain analytics firms, blockchain and software development firms, and digital asset platforms, among others.
The latest layoffs came from crypto analytics firms Elliptic and Messari, which cut 10% and 15% of staff, respectively.
Messari founder Ryan Selkis tweeted on February 23 that the layoffs were due to “market headwinds” and a restructuring of their internal team. It is estimated to have affected around 27 employees.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Elliptic told DLNews on February 24 that the decision to lay off 20 employees was a move to reduce operating expenses.
It follows news from earlier this month, when Chainalysis, another blockchain analytics company, revealed it had laid off 44 of its 900 employees, representing 4.8% of its workforce “primarily in sales.”
Neil Dundon, an Australian-based crypto recruiter told Cointelegraph that “the surge in layoffs is a macro event, not just in Web3, but technology in general driven by fears of an extended recession.”
Data from layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi revealed that a total of 24,572 employees were laid off across 129 tech companies in February, down from 84,414 across 268 tech companies in January.
“Web3 will always be hit harder, at least until Bitcoin is decoupled from the stock market. There may also be some fear of tougher regulation in web3 increasing the top. But as always, crypto is resilient.”
On the higher end of layoffs for the month, non-fungible token (NFT) company Dapper Labs and Ethereum scaling platform Polygon Labs both laid off around 20% of their staff as a result of internal restructuring.
In a Twitter post on February 21, Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal wrote explained The move was a result of unifying all internal teams under Polygon Labs, which led to 100 job cuts.
On February 23, Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou confirmed a new round of layoffs at his company after an initial wave in November, noting that it was part of the restructuring “to improve our focus and efficiency.”
Immutable, the Australian firm behind another Ethereum layer-2 blockchain protocol, also reportedly cut staff during the month, reducing its headcount by 11%.
Other firms announcing headcount reductions included crypto exchange Bittrex, NFT marketplace Magic Eden, institutional crypto watchdog Fireblocks, software firm Protocol Labs and crypto media company The Block.
Payments company Affirm announced it was winding down its crypto program during the month amid a 19% cut, though it’s not known how many employees from the crypto unit were laid off as a result.
Related: Crypto hiring managers reveal the safest jobs in the midst of layoff season
Kevin Gibson, founder of blockchain recruiting firm Proof of Search, agreed that the pace of layoffs appears to have slowed compared to January.
“Jan was big when it followed boards [and venture capital] looking [at] 2022 results and preparing for the worst,” he said. “We’ve seen fewer laid-off candidates this month.”
“Companies are still building great products and the current teams are really stretched, so more layoffs will cut muscle right now for a lot of companies.”
However, Gibson warns that the US securities regulator could still “create more pain”, while continued press coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse “is having an effect on public perception of the sector and mainstream adoption.”
