New York City-headquartered ConsenSys, the crypto software firm and parent company behind MetaMask, is sacking 11% of its personnel, Reuters reported, Thursday.
Even though 2023 is barely a month old, the digital currency sector has already undergone a number of ups and downs.
The crypto market lost about $2 trillion in value in 2022 because of soaring interest rates and mounting jitters of an economic crisis.
ConSenSys CEO Joseph Lubin | Source: AFP PHOTO / Emmanuel Dunand
Since April of last year, crypto companies have laid off tens of thousands of employees.
JUST IN: #Ethereum development company and MetaMask creator, ConsenSys, to lay off 11% of its staff.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 18, 2023
Grim Market Conditions To Blame For Job Cuts
Joseph Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys, cites “uncertain market conditions” as the cause for the terminations, according to the report.
Lubin said in quotes by Bloomberg that to be able to manage “through these cycles,” the company regularly engages in “conservative financial planning and take appropriate steps to ensure we have the resources to fulfill our vision.”
Today we need to make the extremely difficult decision to streamline some of ConsenSys’ teams to adjust to challenging and uncertain market conditions.https://t.co/Svuk9yYj6J
1/10
— Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) January 18, 2023
The company stated that each affected employee will be notified today by the management.
Ethereum has become the most commercially significant blockchain platform in the world, hosting applications such as decentralized exchanges and automated market makers.
The ConsenSys big boss is an early advocate of the blockchain network.
Crypto Winter Casualties
ConsenSys, which presently employs roughly 900 people, is one of the numerous companies that have been forced to give the pink slip to its staff during the crypto winter, which has cost the industry an estimated 27,000 jobs since April.
The cutbacks are the latest in a slew of redundancies at big digital-asset firms during the past few weeks.
Coinbase Global let go of around 950 employees, or 20% of its workforce, while crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital slashed 40% of its headcount.
Genesis, a cryptocurrency lender, reduced 30% of its staff, while another exchange, Huobi, cut its workforce by 20%.
Igor Zakharov, CEO of DBX Digital Ecosystem, explains:
“The crypto market was already feeling the effect of global events, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict that caused turmoil in global finance.”
Crypto total market cap at $923 million on the daily chart | Chart: TradingView.com
According to the report, ConsenSys will provide severance compensation, the services of an external placement agency, and the continuation of healthcare coverage to those who will be eliminated from the company.
In March, ConsenSys closed a $450 million funding round at a valuation of over $7 billion, getting one of the largest crypto investments of 2022.
Featured image from Mental Floss