In a company blog post, crypto exchange
Kraken announced on Wednesday that it is reducing its global workforce by 30% -- or approximately 1,100 employees -- in an attempt to meet current market conditions.
Attempting to “take
steps to weather Crypto Winter,” Kraken explained that the company was forced to grow rapidly -- tripling its workforce over the past several years in order to accommodate a massive rush of
users interested in crypto.
The pending reduction, according to Kraken, downsizes its team to the level where it was just one year ago.
Massive job cuts and bankruptcy filings
have become almost commonplace in recent months, especially in the crypto industry, with popular crypto exchange Coinbase cutting its staff by 18% in June and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace
OpenSea cutting 20% of its workforce in July.
Crypto lending platform BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday of this week.
Other notable cuts have been made recently across
the technology landscape, with Snap's large-scale layoff of 1,200 employees, Amazon’s layoff of 10,000 employees, Meta's layoff of 11,000 employees, thousands of ongoing
layoffs at Twitter, and many more.
Kraken also cited “significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups” and “negative< influences on the financial
markets” in 2022 to its imminent hiring reduction
In its statement, Kraken reminded readers of its status as one of the longest running crypto exchanges, having been around since
2011. “These changes will allow us to sustain the business for the long-term while continuing to build world-class products and services in selective areas that add the most value for our
clients,” the company added.
,p> As for the Crypto Winter, the crypto market has plunged this year, with its total value down more than two-thirds in the past year. Bitcoin, the
leading cryptocurrency, has lost 63% of its value since the end of 2021 as well