Cryptocurrency firms are shedding double-digit percentages of staff, as executives point to weak market conditions and artificial intelligence automation, according to a new report from CoinDesk covered on Blockspace.
Block, Gemini, Algorand and Crypto.com reduced headcounts by between 12% and 40% in recent weeks to streamline operations.
"We're kind of getting hit from both sides right now because you have the fact that Bitcoin is down about 50% from its all time high," Colin Harper, co-host of Blockspace, observed. "And you have AI, which is going to be incredibly deflationary for the labor market."
Notably, Block (NYSE: SQ) let go of some 4,000 positions, or about 40% of its entire staff. Block The neo-financial platform operates Square and CashApp, meaning the cuts spanned both traditional finance and cryptocurrency divisions. Block CEO Jack Dorsey said the cuts were to reduced redundancy in the company, and lean further into AI automation.
"If we can use AI tools to automate the job of 2 or 3 people, we're going to do that," Jack Dorsey stated regarding the reductions.
Gemini eliminated roughly 200 staff members, or about 25% of the cryptocurrency exchange workforce since the start of the year. Algorand similarly fired 25% of its staff to leave fewer than 200 people at the organization.
Crypto.com let go of 180 employees to achieve a 12% staff reduction. Messari shrunk its workforce to roughly 140 employees. Messari has undergone three separate rounds of staff cuts since 2023.
