Reports emerged on Wednesday that crypto exchange Binance is undertaking sizable layoffs. On Wednesday, a report by independent journalist Colin Wu claimed Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, may have cut its staff by as much as 20%.
Patrick Hillmann, Binance’s Chief Communication Officer, clarified the matter via a Twitter thread. Hillmann said the exchange is not cutting 20% of its employees as a cost-cutting measure but said it would “streamline” after experiencing exponential growth over the past five years.
Let me provide some additional clarity via 🧵. Binance is not cutting 20% of employees as a cost-cutting measure. @binance experienced true exponential growth these past 5 years — and grew its staff accordingly. This was a historic operational challenge to overcome. https://t.co/Awmh8PdT8j — Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) May 31, 2023
The exchange has faced unprecedented regulatory action in recent months and has seen a decline in market share; however, the company said in March that it is not planning layoffs but would grow its headcount even further. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said at the time it planned to expand its staff by between 15% and 30%.
In response to the report, Zhao took to Twitter to explain the situation. The company’s CEO wrote Wu’s claims off as FUD, saying the exchange has a “bottom out” program where it continually greets employees it deems “not strong fits with the company.” Zhao further noted that many of these are “great people or high performers, but may not fit our unique culture/situation.”
Another day, another FUD. On rumors of layoffs.Binance has a “bottom out” (we should probably rename it to something else) program. We constantly say goodbye to people who are not strong fits with the company. Many of them are great people or high performers, but may not fit… https://t.co/YGnZILzd5C — CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance)
Zhao reiterated that the company is still appointing new employees. Binance announced the launch of a fully compliant crypto trading platform for Japanese residents. As part of the transition to Binance Japan, the company said it would discontinue its crypto services for Japanese residents through its global platform by November 30.
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