Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex is laying off 83 employees.
The company disclosed the layoffs in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state on Wednesday. According to the filing, the layoffs will begin April 2 and affect Bellevue employees, though the company lists its corporate headquarters as Seattle on its website.
“We are tremendously grateful for the contributions of all Bittrex employees, and we wish those impacted by this decision nothing but the best in their future endeavors,” a Bittrex spokesperson said in a statement to the Business Journal. “These reductions will not impact our platform or customers, and we remain committed to providing a secure and compliant exchange.”
Bittrex was founded in 2014 by Bill Shihara, Richie Lai and Rami Kawach, all of whom worked as cybersecurity engineers at Amazon prior to founding Bittrex. The company allows consumers to buy and sell a variety of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Consumers can trade using their mobile device.
Bittrex didn’t provide details around how many employees will remain after the cuts. The company has more than 280 employees listed on LinkedIn. As for why the WARN said affected employees were in Bellevue and not Seattle, the spokesperson said Bittrex doesn’t discuss employee locations for security reasons but “we still possess robust staffing that will undoubtedly permit us to meet our business goals.”
The layoffs at Bittrex come as the crypto industry continues to struggle. FTX, a crypto exchange once valued at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy in November. FTX’s founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, is now under house arrest while facing fraud charges.
FTX’s downfall ushered in a wider crypto downturn. Crypto tax startup TaxBit, which has dual headquarters in Seattle and Salt Lake City, in December confirmed it was cutting its staff by 15%. Crypto.com, another exchange, in January announced it was laying off about 20% of its staff, adding to layoffs from July.
In a note to all employees, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek wrote the cuts last year “positioned us to weather the macro economic downturn, but it did not account for the recent collapse of FTX, which significantly damaged trust in the industry.”
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