By Nilanjan Dey
The cryptocurrency market has been rocked by extreme volatility, with crypto lender Celsius Network freezing withdrawals early last week as investors fled risky assets in anticipation of aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes to cool red-hot inflation.
Nine staff members from BitOasis, a Middle East-focused cryptocurrency exchange based in the United Arab Emirates were laid off due to the downturn and market turmoil.
The cryptocurrency market has been rocked by extreme volatility, with crypto lender Celsius Network freezing withdrawals early last week as investors fled risky assets in anticipation of aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes to cool red-hot inflation.
Ola Doudin, CEO and co-founder of BitOasis, stated that nine employees were laid off across offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman.
According to a spokesperson, the nine employees accounted for 5% of the workforce.
BitOasis was founded in Dubai in 205 to serve English and Arabic speaking customers. The Abu Dhabi Global Market granted the company permission to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility in 2021, and it is registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider with the UAE Central Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit. In March 2022, it also received provisional approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
Other companies, such as Coinbase, announced on June 14 that they were eliminating 1,100 jobs or 18% of their workforce.
In a blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated, “We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom.” A recession could trigger another crypto winter, which could last for a long time.”
Coinbase increased its hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the crypto market was at its peak, nearly quadrupling its workforce in just five quarters. Their stock dropped about 5% in early trading, adding to their roughly 80% drop this year. The cost of restructuring is estimated to be between $40 and $45 million, with the majority of the cost borne by employee severance and other termination benefits.
Due to the crypto market meltdown, companies such as BlockFi and Crypto.com have cut hundreds of jobs, and large tech firms such as Meta and Intel Corp have also slowed hiring.
