Less than a week has passed since the start of 2023, and the cryptocurrency winter continues to show no signs of thawing. As job cuts mount and regulators increase pressure, companies are warning of losses, throwing a wet blanket over the crypto market.
Key Takeaways
- The start of 2023 was marked by a slew of negative crypto news.
- Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried requested to keep his 56 million shares of the consumer-trading app Robinhood. He used the money, approximately $450,000,000, to pay his legal fees.
- Crypto lender Genesis cut 30% of its staff, crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital Corp. fired 40% of its employees, and crypto exchange Huobi let go of 20% of its employees.
- Regulators have warned banks to be more aware of the potential dangers associated with crypto.
Genesis, Silvergate, China’s Huobi Slash Employees
Crypto lender Genesis has laid off 30% of its personnel, the latest in a series of job cuts. The company is also mulling filing for bankruptcy after it lost $175 million in a trading account on the failing trading platform FTX. Genesis also owes $900 million to Gemini. It has been criticized for how it has handled the financial crisis
Silvergate Capital Corp., a crypto-focused California Bank let go of 40% of its staff following the collapse of FTX. Investors scrambled to redeem $8.1billion at the bank. Silvergate held deposits for FTX Units and Alameda Research, the trading house behind FTX. Meanwhile, Chinese crypto exchange Huobi announced that it will cut around 20% of its employees. “With the current state of the bear market, a very lean team will be maintained going forward,” Huobi said in a statement
Coinbase has axed 18% of its staff due to the FTX crash in 2022. Kraken lost almost a third of its employees, and Crypto.com laid off 5% of its personnel.
Court Drama And Crypto
In New York, Coinbase Global Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange, agreed to pay $100 million to settle any claims made by New York state that it failed to comply with anti-money-laundering rules. A U.S. court ruled that crypto company Celsius can keep all crypto deposits of its customers, so clients won’t be able to recover their funds from the defunct currency. The ruling strengthens the ground rule for crypto investors. “not your keys, not your crypto,” Investors can’t be sure their holdings are safe if they don’t have control over the crypto wallet they use.
