Crypto exchange Binance opens 2,000 positions for hiring: CEO Zhao

BENGALURU: Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has opened 2,000 positions for hiring, Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said on Wednesday, a sharp contrast to a slew of job cuts by companies operating in the digital currency space.

“It was not easy saying no to Super bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did. Today, we are hiring for 2000 open positions for #Binance,” Zhao said in a tweet to his 6.4 million followers on the social media app.

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for additional details on the new jobs.

The move by Binance comes amid extreme volatility in the cryptocurrency market as investors are dumping risky assets over fears that soaring inflation would force the US Federal Reserve to aggressively raise interest rates and tip the economy into a recession.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc said on Tuesday it would cut about 1,100 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, the latest company preparing to ride out a downturn in the cryptosphere.

BlockFi and Crypto.com have also slashed hundreds of jobs, while Meta Platforms and Intel Corp also tapped the brakes on hiring.

Bitcoin tumbled on Wednesday to a new 18-month low, dragging smaller tokens down with it and spurring a sharp fall in the digital currency market sparked by crypto lender Celsius freezing customer withdrawals.

Coinbase lays off 18% of its workforce

Meanwhile, leading crypto exchange Coinbase has announced that it is laying off 18 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,100 jobs amid the economic downturn. Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder said while the company tried its best to get this just right, in this case, it is now clear that it is over-hired.

“We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period,” Armstrong said.

“In past crypto winters, trading revenue (our largest revenue source) has declined significantly. While it is hard to predict the economy or the markets, we always plan for the worst so we can operate the business through any environment,” he added.

The company said at the beginning of 2021, it had 1,250 employees.

“At the time, we were in the early innings of the bull run and adoption of crypto products was exploding. There were new use cases enabled by crypto getting traction practically every week,” Armstrong said.

“We saw the opportunities but we needed to massively scale our team to be positioned to compete in a broad array of bets. It’s challenging to grow at just the right pace given the scale of our growth,” he added.