Global players lay off staff amid crypto winter but Indian exchanges are on a hiring spree

After the announcement of layoffs from Crypto.com and BlockFi plan, another global exchange Coinbase has announced to vacant its chairs from the offices across the globe.

Crypto exchange Crypto.com and lending platform BlockFi plan to cut a total of more than 400 jobs, whereas Coinbase announced to layoff as many as 1,100 employees or 18 per cent of its workforce on Tuesday.

While a long list of global crypto companies is looking to reduce headcount, Indian crypto exchanges and companies have different plans.

According to a number of leading crypto exchanges, including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, WazirX, Unocoin, Mudrex and Giotuss, slashing of staff count is not on their checklist, despite the severe turmoil in the cryptos and economy.

In a response to a query from ETMarkets.com, the majority of the homegrown exchanges said that neither they are planning any layoffs from their workforce, nor are they freezing hiring.

Mudita Chauhan, Head HR, CoinDCX said the unicorn exchange hiring pace is likely to grow for the current year. The overall headcount of the organization is projected to more than double by the end of the fiscal year to 1,000 employees.

“We plan to build for scale and therefore, invest in functions that will strengthen our core. We will continue investing in resources for that,” said the exchange.

The crypto market has been in a tight bear hug as the total market cap of all the tokens slipped below the $1 trillion mark earlier this week, registering a slump of 70 per cent from the peak.

Major tokens including Bitcoin and Ethereum have witnessed a slump of 70 per cent of their value from their respective peaks. Other tokens including Solana, Polkadot, Dogecoin, Avalanche and others have taken an up to 90 per cent hit.

The market has been roiled by extreme volatility as investors dumped risky assets on fears that higher inflation readings would force the US Federal Reserve to turn more aggressive in raising interest rates and tip the economy into a recession.

Another leading exchange, WazirX does not intend to squeeze the team size and is looking to optimize the operations with the current talent base. The exchange claimed to grow team size by six times in half a year.

Sricharan C, Head of Human Resources at WazirX said the company is actively looking out and hiring aggressively for strategic business roles through the internal referral programs, external job listings, and hiring consultants.

The financial crunch in the crypto economy and dried-up volumes on the exchanges will hurt the trading revenue and hurting profitability. This has turned recruits in the industry worried over their future.

Bear markets are the best time to innovate and build sustainable tech, said Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex-a Bengaluru-based crypto trading platform.

“We are actively hiring and there is no question of trimming. Bear markets weed out the noise and allow space for creativity and innovation,” he added. “For us, it is a ‘build’ market and not a bear market.”

Similarly, Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder & CEO, Unocoin, said the volatility in the crypto market is not new. “We do not intend to stop hiring but we are making sure that we are not overhiring.”

In their clarifications, exchanges said they are hiring to build products that could be imminent and support the rising customer demand when the bear market ends and the bull run kicks in.

After weathering many storms in the past, Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus proudly avows his platform as a seasoned sailor. He desists from any knee-jerk action including staff cutbacks.

“The boat gets rocked by various external factors like inflation, market behaviour, and regulatory uncertainty,” he added. “The essence is to steer clear and stick to the course.”

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)