Crypto job losses ease after 13,000 cuts — and Bitcoin ETF euphoria is helping

The number of crypto firms making rounds of job cuts has fallen to just two this month after peaking at 20 last November, according to a DL News data analysis.

The decrease appears to show that crypto enterprises have stabilised in 2023 after enduring the worst bear market in the young sector’s history.

With the expectations mounting for US regulatory approval of a Bitcoin ETF, the crypto market has rallied: Bitcoin has soared 121% this year, and the TVL of DeFi ventures has jumped by a fifth, to $46.4 billion, according to DefiLlama.

Still, the last 18 months have been hard on the ranks of crypto outfits. As many as 13,317 employees were made redundant in 130 companies worldwide, and almost half of those cuts occurred in US firms, according to data from Layoffs.fyi, a research firm.

A dozen companies let go of their full staffs, including Bitwise, Wyre, and WeTrade. In July, Binance cut 1,000 people, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. This month, OpenSea, the NFT marketplace, released half of its staff.

Ana Ćurić is DL News’ data correspondent. Have a tip? Contact the author at ana@dlnews.com.