Crypto exchange Kraken announced today that it will let go of 1,100 staffers. The announcement came from a company blog post and follows similar news from DoorDash that it was also cutting staff.
The news that Kraken is cutting staff – and thus costs – is no surprise, given the generally gloomy macroeconomic climate and even worse climates in crypto land. Prior to the Kraken news, we’ve seen several high-profile implosions in and between web3 companies and layoffs at other exchanges, including US crypto giant Coinbase earlier this year.
According to Kraken, the 1,100 affected employees represent about 30% of the workforce, making most of the cuts we’ve seen this year from tech companies tougher, reductions that tended to fall in the 10% to 20% range.
The exchange explained why it was making the cuts, writing that “significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups” this year led it to slacken its hiring pace and avoid “major marketing commitments.” However, ongoing “negative impacts on financial markets” necessitated the cuts, according to Kraken, despite efforts to cut other spending before laying off staff.
DoorDash cited “macro” effects that led it to cut spending, which was related to the market it faces today.
Layoffs have become commonplace in the technology market this year. From startups to tech giants, many tech companies have sought to cut costs in response to slower-than-expected growth, or the need to reduce unprofitability as investor sentiment has evolved; last year’s growth at all costs mantra clashes directly with market expectations for cleaner P&L accounts this year.
After a slight delay, the number of technical layoffs has increased again. The crypto market has contracted more than the technology market in general this year, so the Kraken cuts come as no surprise, even though they make up a larger share of the company’s total workforce than we’ve seen at other companies.
Coinbase and Kraken are not the only ones cutting their staff costs. OpenSea, another company that saw its valuation soar during the start-up of the 2021 era and crypto boom, was also forced to cut its workforce.