Polygon and Dapper Labs recently announced the layoffs of 20% of their staff and with no end in sight for mass restructurings in the crypto space, Bitcoincasinos.com have taken a look at the state of crypto company layoffs over the last year.
Number of crypto layoffs from February 2022 – February 2023:
| Month, Year | Number of crypto layoffs |
| February 2022 | 0 |
| March 2022 | 0 |
| April 2022 | 75 |
| May 2022 | 160 |
| June 2022 | 3,085 |
| July 2022 | 607 |
| August 2022 | 166 |
| September 2022 | 210 |
| October 2022 | 2,305 |
| November 2022 | 2,993 |
| December 2022 | 641 |
| January 2023 | 2,664 |
| February 2023 | 365 |
The data shows a spike in layoffs in June 2022 following the crash of Terra Luna as well as another spike in November 2022 following the FTX collapse, with both months’ layoff numbers jumping well above the 1,020 monthly average.
In the first two months of 2023 alone, crypto layoffs have reached 3,029, which is just over 30% of the total layoffs in 2022 – potentially putting 2023 on track to far surpass the layoffs of 2022.
The 10 cities with the most crypto layoffs:
| City | Country | No. of layoffs |
| Singapore | Singapore | 3,719 |
| SF Bay Area | United States | 3,454 |
| New York City | United States | 1,754 |
| Austin | United States | 630 |
| London | United Kingdom | 606 |
| Beijing | China | 575 |
| Vienna | Austria | 270 |
| Miami | United States | 235 |
| Berlin | Germany | 215 |
| São Paulo | Brazil | 190 |
Singapore, San Francisco and New York City are the cities who have been hardest hit by crypto layoffs over the last year.
Singapore took first place with 3,719 crypto layoffs, owing mainly to the small island being the home of major firm Crypto.com, who made mass layoffs in 2022 and 2023 totalling an estimated 2,750 employees.
Liam Solomon, Growth Manager at Bitcoin Casinos commented:
“The crypto market remains uncertain for both investors and workers as we move through early 2023. The recent layoffs may signal the end of the ‘crypto boom’ but not the industry itself. Whilst the recent news of big players folding and numerous firms cutting workforce numbers point to downturn for the immediate future, most firms are just returning to their pre-boom size.
As with other start-ups, businesses and entities made from shaky foundations aren’t likely to succeed. Fad offerings and trendy job roles will be shed by companies but the useful, valuable roles within crypto will become even more important.
Skills in marketing, tech, UX, accounting and even compliance are likely to grow in demand – so workers unsure of their future would be smart to look into more ‘traditional’ roles if they wish to continue their crypto careers.”
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Methodology
The study analysed layoffs at cryptocurrency companies that were publicly reported between 1st February 2022 and 23rd February 2023. The data was taken from Layoffs.fyi and other publicly available reports.
