Another cryptocurrency exchange has announced cutbacks on human resources as a result of the industry’s bear market. Australian-based exchange Swyftx announced that it has had to reduce its staff by 21% in a bid to save money to get through the dip in the market.
According to the co-CEOs of Swyftx Ryan Parsons and Alex Harper, nearly 75 of the employees were retrenched, as a result of uncertainty in the market, both in the industry, as well as the macro-environment. A note by the two offered that the exchange had hired when the market was in a different landscape, and it has shifted since. They noted:
“We are operating in an uncertain business environment, with levels of domestic inflation not seen in over two decades, rising interest rates, highly volatile markets across all asset classes, and the potential for a global recession… We want to be very clear that impacting our teammates in this way is a last resort and is not, in any way, a reflection of the talent or commitment of those individuals.”
Earlier this year, the exchange noted that it will be merging with Superhero, an online investment platform in Australia. The merger is part of a $1.5 billion USD agreement. John Winters, Superhero co-founder, stated at the time that the companies will still operate as individual entities following the merger.
Cryptocurrency exchanges and staff cut-backs in the bear market
The Australian firm is not the first – and it will likely not be the last – exchange to suffer from the market’s falling values. During the bull run last year, exchanges had to hire staff to keep up with the increasing demand. Now, with less demand in the market, staffing costs are putting pressure on the reduced budgets of exchanges. As a result, leading exchanges like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Binance have all had to make cuts to their staff to navigate the bear market.
