Bithumb will lay off 50% of its employees and says most employees will retire voluntarily

Author| Wu Suixin

South Korean virtual currency exchange Bithumb plans to reduce its staff by 50%, a move that will reduce its headcount to about 150 people from 310 in early March.

The company said that most of the people expected to leave are employees who already want to leave the company. The voluntary retirement is part of Bithumb’s former employee support program to provide assistance and training for job placement of former employees. In addition to this, Bithumb’s trading volume has declined compared to last year, so the exchange is trying to provide internal measures. Bithumb will continue to add necessary talent for various new businesses.

Bithumb was founded in 2014. It is understood that when Bithumb was listed, it attracted a large number of users through low handling fees of 0.01%-0.075%. Because of its large number of registered users, Bithumb is able to continuously launch new and better currencies, and it will launch corresponding promotions for each currency it launches. In addition to low handling fees and high-quality currencies, Bithumb launched a cryptocurrency and physical store alliance service in March 2018. 6,000+ physical store affiliates support Bithumb’s cryptocurrency payments. This series of fission activities brought Bithumb to the forefront of the world, and its market share once accounted for half of the global market.

The downturn of exchanges is mostly reflected in trading volume. CoinmarketCap shows that Bithumb currently ranks second in trading volume, but the authenticity of the exchange's trading volume has been questioned.

According to a report by TheTie, more than 86% of Bitcoin trading volume is suspicious, with 75% of exchanges reporting very suspicious trading volume. For example, with an average user value per visit of $13,418, it was expected that Bithumb’s monthly trading volume should be around $1.2 billion, yet Bithumb reported over $28 billion in trading volume, meaning they reported a value that was nearly 2,000% higher than expected.

Source: TheTie

The layoffs may indicate that its trading volume is not as good as the reports issued, and market pressure forces the company to react. However, while laying off employees, Bithumb is still actively developing new businesses and expanding overseas markets to increase its influence.

In February, Bithumb launched Ortus, a digital asset over-the-counter trading platform, which will provide "bulk trading and matching services" to institutional customers. Ortus' website shows the company has offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Argentina.

In the same month, Bithumb  announced the signing of a business agreement with the UAE company N-VELOP and decided to establish a cryptocurrency exchange in the UAE. Bithumb plans to use its entry into the United Arab Emirates as an opportunity to expand its influence in oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Affected by the continued decline in market prices, other cryptocurrency companies have also issued similar layoff notices. Well-known companies such as Bitmain have been rumored to be laying off employees for several months, although the company claims it is a management structure reform.

According to previous reports, smart contract auditing company Hosho said it would lay off 80% of its workforce. South Korean exchange Korbit is persuading company employees to "voluntarily retire"; the company behind the Nebulas blockchain project has grown from a team of 80 people to 30 people; Dash 3 At the beginning of the month, it was also stated that the company was still reducing the number of employees; Ethereum Studio Consensys stated that its projects either must raise funds or will also face cuts. The reason for layoffs of all companies is "to cope with the encryption winter."

Source: Odaily Planet Daily