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Huobi Global Could Cut Over 30% of Workforce as China Crackdown Leads to Fall in Revenue
China's decision to ban crypto trading last year caused Huobi a sharp drop in revenue.
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:54 p.m. Published Jun 28, 2022, 9:25 a.m.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global could cut over 30% of its workforce after the removal of Chinese users created a sharp drop in revenue, according to China-based crypto journalist Colin Wu.
- Huobi is expected to cut at least 300 jobs from its workforce of more than 1,000 employees. It began to gradually stop serving customers in China last September, with all access being revoked on Dec. 31 in the wake of China's ban on crypto trading.
- "Due to the current market environment, Huobi Global is in the process of reviewing both its hiring policies and its current manpower, with the goal of re-aligning them to its operational needs," a company spokesperson told CoinDesk. "Further to such review, layoffs are a possibility."
EXCLUSIVE: Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi will start layoffs, which may exceed 30%. The main reason is the sharp drop in revenue after the removal of all Chinese users. Previously, Bybit also announced a layoff plan. pic.twitter.com/jbRG2Aew5G
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 28, 2022
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- The Seychelles-based Huobi Global is one of the most prominent crypto exchanges with daily trade volume regularly exceeding $1.2 billion, according to CoinGecko.
- Last week, rival exchange Bybit announced a similar cost-cutting measure and laid off 30% of its staff in light of the recent market downturn.
- This followed Coinbase's (COIN) decision to reduce its headcount by over 1,100 employees. BlockFi and Crypto.com also laid off a total of 400 employees.
- The cryptocurrency market has slumped from an aggregated $2.9 trillion market cap to $938 billion over the past seven months, with bitcoin now trading at $20,800 after hitting an all-time high of $68,980 in November.
- Huobi's native exchange token (HT) was down 1.16% over the past 24-hours at $5.30.
- Huobi did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment at press time.
Read more: Coinbase Lays Off Around 1,100 Employees
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