‘Prolonged Downturn’: Here Are Latest Crypto Companies To Cut Jobs

Crypto companies such as Coinbase, BitPanda, Gemini, Bybit have already announced layoffs after huge headwinds with the market crash. More recently, another exchange Huobi was said to be considering massive layoff plans due to revenue losses. The crisis surrounding the crypto credit market has made things worse for all stakeholders in the industry.

Anticipating Crypto Winters Over Next Five Years

In a latest, NFT marketplace platform OpenSea announced its decision to layoff 20% of its staff citing the ongoing downturn. Making it even worse, the company indicated that the layoff plan is in anticipation of further crypto winters in the next five years. Devin Finzer, cofounder and CEO of OpenSea, made the statements while announcing the job cuts. He said,

“The changes we are making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios. (It is) five years at the current volume. This gives us high confidence that we will only have to go through this process once.”

Finzer said the industry entered an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability.

‘Winter Is Our Time To Build’

Although the OpenSea layoffs are a concern for the crypto industry, the CEO is optimistic of future prospects in the NFT space. Finzer stressed on having ‘immense conviction’ in the NFT space and in OpenSea’s role in it. “During this winter, we will see an explosion in innovation across the ecosystem. And with the changes we have made, we are in a strong position to continue driving the space forward.”

As with many old timers in crypto space, the OpenSea founder also emphasized on the importance of ‘building’ during the downturn. “Winter is our time to build.” OpenSea’s mission is to build a foundational layer for new, peer-to-peer economies while there is uncertainty, he explained.