Bitmain Technology, Chinese mining giant and cryptocurrency exchange operator Huobi Group have both announced plans to lay off staff but for altered reasons, per reports on the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Bitmain publicized its intention in a statement quoted by the SCMP, calling the layoffs a “minor adjustment” as it reorganizes to build a sustainable business following the recession in the market.
The firm added:
“A part of that is having to really focus on things that are core to that mission and not things that are auxiliary. As we move into the New Year, we will continue to double down on hiring the best talent from a diverse range of backgrounds.”
While the rumours in Chinese media states that about half of Bitmain’s employees might find themselves unwaged at the end of the current reformation, a Bitmain spokesman reportedly denied the suggestions regarding the number of employees exactly to be sacked.
Chinese company Huobi Group, which SCMP notes have over 1,000 employees, will be joining Bitmain on the chopping block as it seeks to streamline its constitution for the New Year by cutting off outmoded employees. Unlike Bitmain, Beijing-based Huobi Group was rapid to mention that it will maintain to expand its team “for its core businesses and emerging markets.”
Case of ConsenSys
The startling market crash has made it complicated for many blockchain companies to be sustainable resulting in some cutbacks and layoffs from firms.
“We must retain, and in some cases regain, the lean and gritty startup mindset that made us who we are. Also, we now find ourselves occupying a very competitive universe…We must recognize that what got us here will probably not get us there, wherever ‘there’ is,”
ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin wrote in a letter to his employees.
Steemit, Blockchain social platform was not spared either. Citing the fall down of the cryptocurrency market, Ned Scott, CEO of Steemit said the startup is intended to fire 70% of its team as it is becoming difficult to advance the blockchain with the “growing costs of running full Steem nodes” and the inferior “fiat returns” on their “automated selling of STEEM.”
