Ignite

Ignite Reduces Its Workforce by More Than 50%, According to an Ex-Employee

  • Ignite rebranded from its former name, “Tendermint” in February, citing a change in policy and direction.

While the bear market keeps the cryptoverse community puzzled at what might be the new spike or trend, several arrays of events have nonetheless kept the space buzzing. Just recently, Ignite, a platform in the blockchain space that has taken a firm lead to enable the swift transition to decentralization, downsized by more than half of its total workforce.

The reports emerged moments after Peng Zhong, the CEO of Ignite, announced his departure from the firm. Reports state that other senior executives at the firm followed Zhong to exit the company.  However, the departure of some of the top officials of the platform cast doubt on the company’s future.

A former employee of Ignite revealed that the company let go of some workers while others offered their resignation in exchange for financial compensation. The number of crypto companies trimming their workforce has been on the increase in recent days. Ignite now joins the likes of Coinbase, Bitpanda, BlockFi, and Crypto.com to let go of some workers. These firms took this step based on the decline of the market. But sources believe that Ignite’s decision to lay off some staff was a result of both internal and recent market conditions.

Ignite, which was formerly known as Tendermint, built a consensus framework which is a proprietary Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant (BFT) Proof-of-Stake (PoS) infrastructure that allows the Cosmos Hub and its underlying blockchain “network of networks” to function. So, the Ignite crypto protocol coordinates the operational efficiency of several leading independent blockchains that make up the Cosmos ecosystem.

Ignite’s solutions are developed for individuals, organizations, and global communities to easily build innovative ideas and use decentralized services in their everyday lives.

Ignite and Its New Structure

Old employees claim that former Ignite CEO Jae Kwon first mentioned the possibility of layoffs when he returned to the organization in May. Kwon, one of the original developers of Cosmos founded Ignite and its parent company, All in Bits Inc. but he was forced to step down from Tendermint (Ignite) in 2020 after a well-documented fallout with some of the company’s staff. He however kept his position on the All In Bits board.

It was widely reported in May that Kwon would make a comeback as the CEO of “New Tendermint,” an Ignite spin-off centered on some of Kwon’s side ventures. A  former Ignite employee claims that the organizational structure remained hazy following the announcement of his return. The ex-worker alleged that Kwon’s new business, New Tendermint, urged employees to apply for jobs at the new firm but Kwon made it clear that not all Ignite employees will be retained.

The decision to let off some workers is reportedly due to the present market conditions.

Lawrence Woriji
Lawrence Woriji Verified

Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.

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