Crypto exchange Huobi plans to lay off 20% of its ~1,100 staff, citing the “bear market”; CoinGecko: Huobi had the 8th largest exchange volume in November 2022
Crypto exchange Huobi plans to lay off about 20% of its staff, the company told Reuters on Friday …
Context & Ripple Effects
Huobi had already been retrenching geographically, closing Beijing subsidiaries amid China’s crackdown and later announcing a Singapore operations exit. The planned workforce reduction extends that narrower operating posture into its cost base.
The move also lands as major exchange peers were cutting staff: Kraken had announced a 30% workforce reduction for market conditions. Huobi’s eighth-place November volume ranking makes the retrenchment notable among larger venues rather than a marginal exchange.
First-order effects
- About one-fifth of Huobi’s roughly 1,100 employees face job cuts, while Huobi reduces payroll in response to the bear market.
- Huobi’s remaining organization must support an exchange that CoinGecko ranked eighth by November 2022 volume with fewer staff.
Second-order effects
- Kraken’s and Huobi’s reductions establish cost control as a shared response among larger exchanges, increasing pressure on rivals to justify staffing levels against subdued market conditions.
- Crypto.com’s subsequent roughly 20% global workforce cut reinforces that exchange operators are converging on smaller cost bases rather than maintaining expansion-era headcount.
Third-order effects
- If these cuts persist across leading venues, crypto-exchange competition will be shaped more by the ability to operate through market downturns than by headcount-led expansion.
- Huobi’s prior exits from Beijing and Singapore, alongside the new cuts, point to a more concentrated operating footprint at exchanges exposed to shifting market and regulatory conditions.
The trend: Major crypto exchanges are pairing geographic retrenchment with workforce reductions to reset their operating costs for weaker market conditions.