Key Takeaways
- The firm cited low market activity as a reason
- CoinSwitch cited redundancy in roles due to a lack of customer queries owing to the ongoing bear market.
- The reduction reportedly represents about 8% of CoinSwitch’s workforce.
As market volatility continues to rock the cryptocurrency space, CoinSwitch, a prominent crypto trading platform, has joined the ranks of exchanges implementing workforce adjustments.
In August, the exchange reportedly made the decision to lay off 44 employees from its customer support division, citing low market activity and redundancy in roles attributed to a lack of customer queries resulting from the ongoing bear market.
CoinSwitch clarified its move, stating, “We continuously evaluate our business to stay competitive, prioritizing innovation, value, and service for our customers. To that end, we right-sized our customer support team to align with the present volume of customer queries on our platform.”
The affected individuals, numbering 44, reportedly engaged in detailed discussions with their managers and voluntarily resigned from their positions. This reduction reportedly represents about 8% of CoinSwitch’s workforce.
Notably, CoinSwitch’s actions echo those of another Indian exchange, CoinDCX, which recently reduced its staff by 12%. These decisions come against the backdrop of challenging conditions in the crypto space, where both exchanges have encountered the consequences of India’s stringent tax regime.
India introduced a 30% tax on cryptocurrency profits in 2022, leading to the departure of numerous crypto service providers and a substantial decline in trading activity. Additionally, local exchanges are burdened with a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on all crypto transactions since February 1, 2022.
However, CoinSwitch’s layoffs represent a partial downsizing, as the exchange has continued to hire in other areas. Over the past few months, CoinSwitch added approximately 60 employees, primarily focusing on roles related to product technology and compliance. This brings the exchange’s total employee count to around 640, with 82 members remaining in the customer support team.
Apart from CoinSwitch and CoinDCX, several prominent crypto firms in the global landscape have also decided to lay off staff in recent months. In June, crypto firm Circle announced that it had reduced staff and ended investments in non-core activities as the stablecoin issuer seeks to shore up its balance sheet.
Coinbase Global, Gemini are some other crypto firms that laid off staff earlier in the year after more than a trillion dollars were wiped out from the crypto sector in 2022.
