Digital Asset Trading Platform Uphold Cuts 17% of Global Workforce Amid 'Crypto Winter'
Cryptocurrency trading platform Uphold has laid off approximately 17% of its global workforce, affecting 85 full-time employees and contractors. The cuts are part of a strategic shift to reallocate resources towards its rapidly growing corporate services business, as retail cryptocurrency trading activity has declined amid the ongoing market downturn.
CEO Simon McLaughlin stated the company is restructuring after years of significant growth and remains confident in the long-term prospects of digital assets and blockchain technology. Founded in 2015, Uphold offers trading and custody services for cryptocurrencies, fiat, stocks, and precious metals. It has recently expanded to provide infrastructure for banks, fintech firms, and broker-dealers to integrate crypto services.
The layoffs occur against a backdrop of a prolonged crypto market slump, with total market capitalization falling to around $2.1 trillion by Q2 2024. Factors include weakened trading volumes, reduced retail participation, interest rate hikes, geopolitical uncertainty, and net outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Uphold clarified it is not shutting down its UK operations or any international offices. The company highlighted strong growth in its corporate platform and announced plans to evolve its consumer app into a broader blockchain-based financial assistant by 2026, offering U.S. stocks, tokenized securities, lending, credit cards, and DeFi yield opportunities.
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