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Crypto winter is spurring another round of layoffs within the crypto industry, with MetaMask developer Consensys and crypto exchange Coinbase the latest to join a slew of key industry players rushing to free up funds by cutting labour.
According to a Coindesk report, which cited someone familiar with the matter, Consensys is looking to reduce its labour force by roughly 100 staff members. The US-headquartered company currently has about 900 employees.
Founded in 2014, Consensys is a Web3 infrastructure company that develops decentralized software services and applications that operate on Ethereum. Apart from MetaMask, their other products include Quorum - a permissioned blockchain for businesses, and Diligence - an Ethereum smart contracts audit service.
Job purge worsens
Rising interest rates and the implosion of some of crypto's biggest names have wiped more than a trillion dollars from the crypto industry, resulting in a fresh wave of job cuts. Data compiled by Coindesk indicates that more than 28,000 crypto jobs have been lost as of January 10.
US-based exchange Coinbase similarly announced on Tuesday that it will be reducing its headcount by 20% (approximately 950 jobs).
In a blog post on Tuesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the exchange will require "appropriate operational efficiency" to weather the market downturn.
"As part of a headcount reduction like this, we will be shutting down several projects where we have a lower probability of success. Affected teams will receive communication on this today. Our other projects will continue to operate as normal, just with fewer people on the team," Armstrong said.
In June, Coinbase laid off 18% of its workforce and extended its hiring freeze. The exchange lost more than 70% of its value in 2022 as the selloff in cryptocurrencies and an uncertain economic landscape has sapped risk appetites and spurred a decline in users and revenue.
Last week, Singapore-based exchange Huobi revealed that it will be slashing a fifth of its word count.
