Ledger, one of the leading cryptographic hardware wallet makers, is laying off 12% of its workforce.
According to the company’s LinkedIn page, the organization has 734 employees, therefore laying off around 90 of its staff.
“Macroeconomic headwinds are limiting our ability to generate revenue, and in response to the current market conditions and business realities, we must reduce roles across the global business,” Ledger Chairman and CEO Pascal Gauthier said in a letter.
Ledger’s plan to reduce its staff is due to the currency crypto winter and the significant downturn in the past year.
Gauthier said, “Ledger’s been through multiple bear markets and it’s these most difficult days that require focus. At times we are forced to make unwanted, but necessary decisions. While difficult, bear markets can also be an opportunity to strengthen our business, connections to one another, ways of working, and our resolve.”
2020 and 2021 were years of spectacular growth for the crypto industry, with significant crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) hitting an all-time high on the crypto market. Other altcoins also witnessed a significant market capitalization. NFT (non-fungible tokens) were not left out.
However, things took a different turn in 2022. Central banks slammed the brakes on the economy with inflation and liquidity tightening in 2022. This historic event maintains the tight level even as 2023 draws to a close.
This tightening up, together with a number of disasters such as the Terra ecosystem collapse and FTX bankruptcy, knocked the wind out of the 2020/2021 crypto bull market.
Bitcoin is still 60% lower than its all-time highs from 2021, while many big altcoins are still down more than 90%.
According to DeFi Llama, DeFi markets are a shell of their former selves, with trade value locked (TVL) across all chains being about $78 billion vs. far over $300 billion in late 2021.
Due to the state of the market at the moment, several crypto companies’ earnings have decreased dramatically.
Approximately 30,000 crypto industry personnel were laid off between April 2022 and March 2023. That figure has almost certainly increased significantly in the months since.
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