Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange, has laid off 10% of its workforce in its most recent round of layoffs
- Blog
- January 24, 2023
Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange, has laid off 10% of its workforce in its most recent round of layoffs
On Monday, a Gemini spokesperson told CNBC that the crypto exchange will decrease its roll count by 10 percent.
It is at least the third round of reductions in less than a year for Gemini, which the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss co-founded and, unlike most of its peers, is subjected to the banking regulation of New York.
Gemini had about a thousand personnel as of November 2022, according to PitchBook data, and was urging around a hundred people to resign from their posts. According to TechCrunch, Gemini reduced its workforce by 7% in July 2022, following a 10% reduction the previous month.
Other crypto companies such as Crypto.com, Coinbase, Kraken, and Genesis have removed the positions since November 11th, the day when Sam Bankman Fred’s crypto exchange filed for insolvency. In early January, Coinbase terminated 20% of its employees in a second major round of job cuts in an attempt to save cash during the crypto market plunge.
Cameron Winklevoss noted in an internal message acquired by The Information that “it was our hope to avoid further reductions after this summer, however, persistent negative macroeconomic conditions and unprecedented fraud perpetuated by bad actors in our industry have left us with no other choice but to revise our outlook and further reduce headcount.”
In recent weeks, Gemini had been embroiled in a legal battle over customer funds.The exchange also encountered a legal fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a supposed unregistered contribution and sale of securities in relation to its partnership with the bankrupt firm of Barry Silbert, Genesis.
Gemini had been deranged in an intense feud with Silbert’s Genesis Trading, a crypto lending company that generated significant revenue for Gemini’s clients through a high-yield lending product called Gemini Earn.
The relationship turned bitter when FTX filed for insolvency. Eventually, Genesis froze lending and redemptions shortly after, leaving the clients of Gemini short by approximately $900 million. The string of failures also compelled Gemini Earn’s product to follow the case with its own temporary adjournment.
In the months since the halting of the Earn product, about 340,000 of Gemini’s customers have increasingly become frustrated. Some have joined forces in legal action against the exchange.
Genesis filed for protection against bankruptcy on January 19th. The filing lists the 50 largest creditors who are not secured, with Gemini topping the list at $765.9 million, which is more than $300 million greater than the next creditor.