Cryptocurrency Exchange Huobi is reportedly set to reduce its global employee headcount by 20 percent. Based in Seychelles, the company is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world with a daily trading volume of $370 million, according to CoinGecko data.
On Friday, Reuters reported that a company spokesperson had told the news agency that Huobi was looking to cut its workforce by about 20 percent. The Financial Times and Bloomberg also reported the planned layoffs on Friday. The spokesperson had told Reuters that “With the current state of the bear market, a very lean team will be maintained going forward.” Justin Sun, who is a member of Huobi’s advisory board also described the decision as a structural adjustment to Reuters. According to him the “structural adjustment” had not started but should be completed by the first quarter of 2023. As of October 2022, Huobi had 1,600 employees globally.
The latest development follows a chain of layoffs that have rocked both the cryptocurrency world and the general business world. Crypto lender Genesis Trading recently slashed its workforce by 30 percent.
On Friday, Huobi’s native HT token at one point sank as low as $4.3355, down more than 7% from the 24 hours prior, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Following the recent collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and the tough macroeconomic challenges, cryptocurrency businesses have been looking for means to continue to stay afloat, and slashing their employee headcounts have been a major way of achieving that.
Huobi got acquired on October 7 by About Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based asset management firm that founded the Tron blockchain project. The exchange was originally founded in China but had to move out because of the country’s strict policies and aversion to cryptocurrencies.