Year-Long Crypto Winter Increases Lay Off, Turning Former Employees to Whistleblowers

As the market continues to experience the declining graph, some major crypto companies have announced the plan to start a massive round of layoffs. The latest tweet by Jake Chervinsky, a government enforcement defense lawyer, indicates ‘more layoffs in near future and it may turn former employees to become whistleblowers’.

The tweet reads;

As the bear market deepens, more crypto companies will have to lay off employees to keep the lights on.

This creates a new risk: disgruntled former employees often become whistleblowers, especially if they have valuable intel that entitles them to an SEC or CFTC bounty reward.

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) December 29, 2018

Crypto Industry Wide Layoffs

Recently, two of the world’s largest market players, Huobi (cryptocurrency exchange ) and Bitmain Technologies (Cryptocurrency mining chip maker) appeared on bulletins to lay off their staff for various reasons. The official announcement of Bitmain’s lay off on December 17, 2018, states that;

“It’s affirmative. The layoff will start next week and involves more than 50 percent of the entire Bitmain’s headcount.”

In like manner, Huobi’s lay off was discussed on social media and it reveals;

Overexpansion is a common problem in bubbleish cycle. Comparing with its competitors, Bitmain’s 3000 ppl army before the layoff is very clumsy, 80% of their personnel were hired in 2018.

Another weight loss exercise is coming up for another big firm – Huobi. Details ?????? pic.twitter.com/z3kbogMvdt

— Dovey Wan ? (@DoveyWan) December 27, 2018

Since Bitcoin has reached to a bottom of the graph, major firms are stepping ahead to optimize their staff but at the same time, ‘it can create a new risk’. However, Jake’s analysis states that these employees will have a potential opportunity ‘if they have valuable intel that entitles them to an SEC or CFTC bounty reward’. Very soon the tweet was engaged with numerous opinions from crypto enthusiasts.

CFTC’s Bounty to Encourage Whistleblowers

Moreover, in early 2018, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a new bounty to encourage ‘whistleblowers’ who can be vocal about ‘pump-and-dump’ schemes happening within the firm. CFTC’s announcement further read;

“If you have original information that leads to a successful enforcement action that leads to monetary sanctions of $1 million or more, you could be eligible for a monetary award of between 10 percent and 30 percent.”

Interestingly, the former employees of crypto firms (those were in connection with ‘pump-dump- scheme’) might become whistleblowers to enjoy bounties by regulators like CFC and SEC.

So, do you think the lay off will occur across other crypto firms as well? What’s your stake of a prolonged bear market in cryptocurrencies? Let’s share!