Round 2 of Layoffs for Crypto.com, “Much Bigger” Than Last Time

Crypto.com has undergone a second round of layoffs amid ongoing bear market conditions, according to cryptocurrency news site Decrypt. Multiple employees at Crypto.com told Decrypt that this second round of layoffs was “much bigger” than the first round the company announced in June when it laid off 260 employees, 5% of its workforce at the time.  

Employees were reportedly informed about the additional round of job cuts last week but there has been no public announcement about the layoffs from Crypto.com, which won the 2022 Sports Breakthrough of the Year Award in May at SBJ’s Sports Business Awards. The company’s sports sponsorship splashes include its $700 million naming rights deal for Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center), as well as deals with the FIFA World Cup, UFC, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Kings, Angel City FC, F1’s Miami Grand Prix, and NBA stars LeBron James and Joel Embiid.  

“Leadership expressed they had no intention of going public. Top management is unlikely to do an announcement as, after the June layoffs, they claimed that everyone’s job was safe, and that no more layoffs will happen,” a source who works at Crypto.com told Decrypt. “The business is cutting down to bare minimum to survive the likely long bear market—internal initiatives are about trying to save every penny.” 

Decrypt reports that the latest round of cuts impacted people working on Crypto.com products such as its cryptocurrency trading exchange, mobile app, and digital wallet; whereas the June cuts targeted employees in customer service and growth roles. Before both rounds of layoffs, about 45% of Crypto.com’s staff was hired between 2021 and 2022. 

“Our leadership team has been planning for this bear market for a long time,” Crypto.com’s North America sponsorship manager Preston Peters told SportTechie in May. “This is the moment in time where we get to build and focus on our product and really continue to grow our community. We’re excited by the challenge. And we’re not going anywhere.” 

In other news, Crypto.com received regulatory approval this week to launch in the UK and Canada, where it will be the first crypto firm to operate under rules from the Ontario Securities Commission. Rival crypto exchange Coinbase laid off 18% of its workforce in June while NFT marketplace OpenSea announced layoffs to 20% of its staff last month. One self-described current employee at Crypto.com wrote a post July 10 on employer rating site Glassdoor that pegs more than 1,000 employees to have been laid off at Crypto.com. 

“The company is hiding the fact that they’ve laid off more than 1,000 employees even though they officially announced laying off 260,” reads the post. “They’ve removed the company directory so we can’t see the numbers go down. Management has been silent about the issue and everyone is terrified that their job will be next. It’s not good for morale to see that 1/3 of the invitation list on your next meeting is disabled accounts.”