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- Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is reconsidering its talent base, which could potentially impact up to 20% of its 8000-person workforce.
- Despite rumored layoffs, Binance maintains its strategy is not a “rightsizing” exercise, but an attempt to ensure they have the right talent in critical roles.
Binance, the globally renowned cryptocurrency exchange, has publicly announced that it is in the process of reassessing its talent pool. This news follows external reports that suggested the exchange could terminate the employment of approximately 20% of its current workforce in June. This potential shift in the company’s human resource allocation marks a deviation from Binance’s growth-focused position last year when it continued to expand despite a bear market.
4. Another day, another FUD. On rumors of layoffs.
Binance has a "bottom out" (we should probably rename it to something else) program. We constantly say goodbye to people who are not strong fits with the company. Many of them are great people or high performers, but may not fit… https://t.co/YGnZILzd5C
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) May 31, 2023
Renowned Chinese crypto reporter, Colin Wu, announced on Wednesday that multiple sources had confirmed Binance’s commencement of layoffs. While the exact proportion of affected employees remains uncertain, estimates indicate that up to 20% of Binance’s 8,000-strong workforce could be impacted.
Wu further added,
“Certain departments continue to recruit, suggesting that the layoffs might be connected to the overall market downturn and Binance’s extensive previous expansion.”
A year ago, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, proudly announced that the company had amassed a “healthy war chest” due to prudent spending during the preceding bull market. Contrasting with other exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com that were reducing their workforce, Binance had plans to hire over 2,000 additional employees.
However, in a recent message to CryptoPotato, a Binance spokesperson insisted that the company is still recruiting to fill
“hundreds of open roles.”
The spokesperson described the situation not as a case of “rightsizing,” but as a reassessment to ensure the
“right talent and expertise in critical roles.”
The spokesperson further emphasized that Binance is exploring “certain products and business units” to guarantee proper resource allocation. Echoing this sentiment, Binance’s Chief Communications Officer, Patrick Hillman, reassured that the potential 20% workforce reduction is not a cost-cutting measure. Instead, it is part of a cyclic, 6-monthly
“talent density audit and resource allocation exercise.”
Despite a slowdown in business activity last year, other major crypto firms, including Coinbase and Block, reported considerable quarter-to-quarter revenue improvements in Q1 2023 as the crypto market rebounded from its November lows.
