Road to Success

Crypto.com is reducing its headcount by around 20% as ongoing macroeconomic headwinds and industry-related setbacks, namely the collapse of FTX (FTT-USD), weigh, the cryptocurrency exchange said in a release dated Friday.

The job losses added to the industry’s pain in the last week, which featured layoffs from rival Coinbase Global (COIN) as well as crypto brokerage Blockchain.com.

“We grew ambitiously at the start of 2022, building on our incredible momentum and aligning with the trajectory of the broader industry. That trajectory changed rapidly with a confluence of negative economic developments,” said Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com.

The chief said his company, which implemented job cuts in July after the implosion of the Terra (LUNC-USD) ecosystem and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, grew to more than 70M users globally and maintains a robust balance sheet.

Still, the downfall of crypto exchange FTX (FTT-USD) dented trust in the industry, he added. “It’s for this reason, as we continue to focus on prudent financial management, we made the difficult but necessary decision to make additional reductions.”

A November 2022 preliminary audit showed that around 20% of Crypto.com’s proof of reserves consisted of meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD).