BitMEX Slashes 30% Of Its Employees: Report
- Renowned crypto exchange Bitmex has recently decided to trim its workforce by 30% as it has decided to move away from its “beyond derivatives” strategy.
- The company is pivoting from its Beyond Derivatives strategy to intensify its focus on providing better crypto derivatives trading experience and bring additional features for its customers.
- The decision of the massive layoff comes only days after Alexander Höptner stepped down from his role as CEO of the company after serving for less than two years.
Amid the ongoing crypto winter season, renowned crypto exchange Bitmex has recently decided to trim its workforce by 30% as it has decided to move away from its “beyond derivatives” strategy, which includes more focus on spot trading, brokerage and custody services.
According to a recent report, a Bitmex spokesperson stated that the company is pivoting from its Beyond Derivatives strategy to intensify its focus on providing better crypto derivatives trading experience. They stated:
“We are pivoting from our Beyond Derivatives strategy, and will return much of our focus aiming at providing the crypto derivatives trading experience people will turn to. We are going to refocus on liquidity, latencies, and a vibrant derivatives community including BMEX Token trading.”
As a result, the company has acted on the “undesirable consequence” by laying off 30% of its staff. The spokesperson went on to add:
“Our top priority is to make sure all employees who will be impacted have the support they require. Each of them have been instrumental in the remarkable journey Bitmex has taken from its roots as a small startup to one of the top crypto exchanges in the world.”
Interestingly, the decision of the massive layoff comes only days after Alexander Höptner stepped down from his role as CEO of the company after serving for less than two years. After Höptner’s departure, the Chief Financial Officer Stephan Lutz took the responsibility to serve as Bitmex’s interim CEO.
Before this recent layoff, the exchange platform had cut around 75 jobs after canceling its plans to acquire German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt.
2014- founded Bitmex was among the early exchanges to offer crypto derivatives. Since then, it has fought a number of legal fights.
Arthur Hayes, the co-founder and CEO of Bitmex, was forced to resign from his position as a result of lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice and Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Hayes was given a six-month sentence of home detention as part of a two-year probation period in May 2022 after submitting a guilty plea to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
Bitmex, which was once regarded as a market leader in cryptocurrency derivatives holding 35% of the open interest in all bitcoin futures, now only accounts for roughly 2% of the total.
With the announcement of a 30% layoff, Bitmex adds itself to the list of companies troubled from the ongoing crypto bear market. Before this, exchange giants like Coinbase, Gemini, and Crypto.com have already trimmed off a large portion of their workforce.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
