Gemini, the crypto exchange run by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is slashing 10% of its staff, the firm said in a letter to employees Thursday.
Job cuts are spreading rapidly throughout the tech industry as a result of a recent downturn, but Gemini's layoffs mark the most significant among cryptocurrency companies — a sign that sagging digital asset values are cooling what was a red-hot hiring market. Coinbase said last month it would slow hiring plans.
The layoffs are the first in Gemini's eight years in business, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the job cuts. Gemini did not disclose how many total jobs were cut, but the company employs just over 1,000 people, according to LinkedIn.
“This is where we are now, in the contraction phase that is settling into a period of stasis — what our industry refers to as ‘crypto winter,’” the Winklevoss brothers wrote in the memo. “This has all been further compounded by the current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil. We are not alone.”
The value of bitcoin and ether have been chopped in half from highs in November 2021. People tend to trade less when crypto values cool, cutting into revenue for exchanges.
Gemini will conduct the layoffs through individual remote conversations and hold a companywide meeting to discuss its future on Friday, according to Bloomberg. The company plans to focus “only on products that are critical to our mission."
In November, Gemini raised $400 million in new funding at a $7.1 billion valuation.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE