Crypto exchange CoinDCX lays off employees amid restructuring drive

• ByStartupStory     |    January 12, 2023

According to numerous sources familiar of the development, cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has begun combining some of its operations, which has led to the firing of personnel as a cost-cutting measure. This restructuring, which occurred last month, had the greatest impact on the marketing, branding, and activation departments. 

This occurs at a time when cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe, including those in India, are dealing with challenging market circumstances and regulatory challenges and have started laying off staff. 

80 to 100 individuals were reportedly let go from the marketing, branding, and activation departments. These workers were asked to leave by CoinDCX, and many of them are currently completing their notice periods and receiving their severance money, according to several sources. The layoffs were subtle.

CoinDCX has denied these developments saying, “As we are in the build phase and some products are on the anvil, this has paved the way of generating new roles for which we are hiring and this has also given an opportunity for an internal reshuffle. These restructured teams are being assigned interesting mandates to contribute to CoinDCX’s growth journey in the Web3 space.”

“At CoinDCX, with an employee strength of 642 team members, we strive towards giving meaningful roles and charters that would help our employees to learn & grow in this space,” it added.

The company was on a hiring spree last year. CoinDCX’s co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta had said, “We had set a target to hire 1,000 people this year. We will need a lot of people since we are building Okto and also doing a lot for increased compliance and for customer support.”

The latest event occurs a day after Coinbase, a CoinDCX investor, stated it would fire 950 staff in order to cut its operating costs by around 25% quarter over quarter (Q/Q). Overhiring was another important factor in the layoffs at Coinbase. Similar staff reductions were done by rival exchange WazirX in October of last year, when 40% of its policy, marketing, and communications employees were let go. 

CoinDCX has been attempting to broaden its operations over the past year. It established CoinDCX Ventures, a venture arm, and a dedicated fund worth Rs 100 crore. Later, Okto, a new app aggregator that will give consumers access to Web3 applications, was also revealed.

Investors started asking for more transparency from exchanges after the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. In retaliation, CoinDCX revealed a 1:1 ratio of reserves to liabilities in its proof of reserves, which was published in November. The most important tokens on the exchange comprised, among others, ADA, Shiba Inu, Matic, and Ethereum.

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