BlockFi Cuts 20% of Workforce Amid Crypto Downturn

Key Takeaways

BlockFi is firing 20% of its employees due to dramatic market conditions.
The company is focusing on profitability ahead of what it acknowledges could be a prolonged global recession.
Other crypto companies such Coinbase have recently made cuts due to the ongoing crypto bleed.

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BlockFi is firing 20% of its employees due to worsening macroeconomic conditions. 

BlockFi Anticipates Extended Global Recession

BlockFi is letting go of 20% of its workforce.

According to a Monday blog post penned by BlockFi founders Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, the company is reducing its headcount in an effort to achieve profitability in a difficult macroeconomic environment. The layoffs will impact every team at the company, the blog post stated.

The post blamed the “dramatic pull back in equity and crypto markets” for forcing BlockFi to “review [its] strategic priorities.” The layoffs are expected to help the business endure “what many expect to be an extended global recession.” Other steps BlockFi has taken to secure profitability include reducing marketing spend, eliminating non-critical vendors, reducing executive compensation, and slowing headcount growth.

BlockFi was founded in 2017 to provide credit services to crypto markets. It now has a range of earning, borrowing, investing, and payment products and supports over 650,000 clients globally. It grew from 150 employees at the end of 2020 to more than 850 today; the layoffs are expected to reduce the team to a little over 600 employees.

BlockFi is not the only crypto company to slash its headcount in response to the recent market downturn. Coinbase took the controversial step to rescind all of its employment offers in early June shortly after emailing already-signed candidates to reassure them that, despite market turmoil, their positions were assured. Other companies in the crypto ecosystem stepped up to hire any Coinbase candidates impacted by the contract termination. 

Meanwhile, BlockFi’s announcement came hours after crypto lender Celsius halted fund withdrawals amid “extreme market conditions.” BlockFi has already published a statement assuring that the company has “no exposure to Celsius and… never worked with them as a partner.”

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies.

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