Cryptocurrency winter has started affecting trading firms, as Gemini lays off 10% of its employees.
Following the massive decline in the value of cryptocurrencies in recent times, popular cryptocurrency trading firm Gemini Trust Co., has laid off some of its employees to cope with the ongoing “crypto winter.”
Gemini made the announcement in an internal memo sent to employees of the company as seen and published today by Bloomberg, stating that it would reduce its total staff by 10%. .
“This is where we are now, in the contraction phase that is settling into a period of stasis — what our industry refers to as crypto winter,” Gemini said in the memo.
The company noted that aside from the ongoing industry slump, its financial position has been badly affected by the recent macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil, adding that it is not the only company affected in the industry.
Notably, the affected employees will be invited for a remote conversation to discuss the appropriate layoff benefits that the company will make available to the workers.
Cryptocurrency Market Winter
Since the beginning of the year, prices of various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), among others, have suffered huge blows.
These coins have shredded more than 50% of their gains since November 2021. Events such as rising inflation across the world and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been considered as contributing factors to what led to the massive dip in the value of cryptocurrencies.
When investors and cryptocurrency-related businesses thought they had seen it all, the unfortunate Terra incident occurred, which became a major catalyst that ushered in the ongoing bear market.
Efforts to Salvage the Situation Not Effective
It is common knowledge that the ongoing bear market has wreaked havoc on businesses and investors. However, venture capitalists and other big players in the industry are deploying various techniques to save the market from plunging further.
While Andreessen Horowitz pumped a massive $4.5 billion to the cryptocurrency market, world’s largest exchange Binance also made a commitment of $500 million.
Contrary to expectations, these moves have had very little impact on the market.
Exchanges’ Profit Affected
With the value of cryptocurrencies experiencing wide swings, many traders have decided to stay away from trading for the time being until things stabilize and it has badly affected exchanges that rely on trading fees to cater for their operational cost.
At the moment, Gemini has decided to focus on issues and products that are pertinent to its mission.
“Today is a tough day, but one that will make Gemini better over the long run,” an excerpt of the memo reads.
Founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in 2014, Gemini initially launched as a cryptocurrency exchange. However, the firm has added multiple services that have seen it grow beyond a mere cryptocurrency exchange.
Although it is not clear the number of staff that work for the company, LinkedIn estimates that Gemini has about 1,000 staff on its payroll.
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