Crypto billionaires and co-founders of Gemini, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have announced that the exchange will ‘separate with approximately 10% of the workforce.’
In a blog post on June 2, the founders commented that the industry is in a contraction phase of “crypto winter”. In addition, the market weakness is exacerbated by the ‘current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil’.
Why the job cut?
Gemini’s chiefs have said the company has focused on “critical” products that “optimize teams to the current, turbulent market conditions that are likely to persist for some time.”
On the decision to cut the job, the blog said, “Every great company in history has faced similar challenges and Gemini is no different. And as painful as this moment is, we’re finally making it through our strongest ideas and customer-centricity.” See this as an opportunity to double down on products…”
Notably, over the past year, the crypto market has lost over 50% of its cumulative global market capitalization. Bitcoin, the largest coin by market cap, is up close to 56% at a trading price of $30,000, compared to its all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021.
How price has affected trading volume
In early January, Bloomberg quoted Oppenheimer & Company analyst Owen Lau, who warned that falling crypto prices “could drive lower trading volumes to discourage traders from getting engaged.”
“There is a possibility that the price of the digital asset could be flat, as if entering a crypto winter following the price drop,” the analyst said.
Meanwhile, Coingecko’s April report for the last quarter also outlined that “spot trading volume across the top-10 centralized and decentralized exchanges in Q1 2022 decreased from $6.08 trillion to $3.79 trillion in Q4 2021, compared to Q4 2021.” Reiterating that the volume has really become a hit .
Furthermore, there was no respite for the market thereafter, as the collapse of Terra created another turmoil in the market.
Gemini is not alone
Meanwhile, another Bloomberg report citing sources said that Coinbase-backed crypto exchange, Rain Financial Inc., has also laid off dozens of employees. According to several other media reports, tech companies including crypto exchange Coinbase have slowed hiring, while Robinhood and BitMEX have also cut staff.
But not all fronts have slowed down. Recently, Binance Labs announced that it has raised $500 million for a new Web3-focused investment fund, just as Andreessen Horowitz launched a $4.5 billion fund.
