Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc. is laying off 83 employees, according to the U.S. Employment Security Department’s layoff alert. Bittrex has 284 staffers according to LinkedIn’s database.
See related article: Crypto.com announces 20% cut in headcount, cites post-FTX market conditions
Fast facts
- “The market downturn triggered by multiple failures in the crypto ecosystem became an outright collapse by the end of the year. These events have caused us to reset our strategy,” Bittrex co-founder Richie Lai told employees in an internal email leaked on Twitter.
- Last October, Bittrex was fined US$29 million by the U.S. Treasury Department for failing to block people from sanctioned jurisdictions from accessing the trading platform.
- Bittrex adds to the list of crypto exchanges that announced layoffs since the collapse of the FTX exchange last November, which include Crypto.com, Coinbase and Huobi.
- Bittrex has not yet responded to Forkast’s email request for comment sent outside of U.S. working hours on Thursday.
- Richie Lai, a former manager at Amazon, co-founded Bittrex in 2014 with Rami Kawach and Bill Shihara, also former Amazon employees. Bittrex had US$19 million in trade volume over the last 24 hours through Thursday morning in Asia, according to CoinMarketCap data.
See related article: Silvergate probed by US prosecutors over FTX, Alameda accounts: Bloomberg