Share this article
Bitcoin Financial Services Firm Unchained Capital Cutting Staff, Reshuffling Management
While the company has no exposure to FTX, the extended bitcoin bear market is taking a toll on parts of the business.
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:03 a.m. Published Nov 18, 2022, 10:32 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Unchained Capital reduced its workforce by about 15% and moved its head of business development, Parker Lewis, to the board of directors. Chief Product Officer Will Cole was moved to a senior advisory role.
In a blog post discussing the jobs cuts, co-founder and CEO Joe Kelly said on Friday that while Unchained has never had exposure to FTX, Alameda or any other institutions that have lost client funds, "funding for bitcoin-backed loans has been materially constrained by recent market events."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
He noted that his company is seeing record numbers of new clients, bitcoin deposits and trading volumes, and the loan book currently has a 214% collateral-to-principal ratio.
"We have admittedly made mistakes along the way," wrote Parker Lewis in a separate blog post discussing the moves. "Despite having weathered every storm without incurring a loan loss, we expanded the team quicker than we otherwise would have had we better accounted for the current market environment."
Read more: NYDIG, Stone Ridge Lead $25M Funding Round for Unchained Capital
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Michael Saylor's Strategy catches a break from MSCI, but analysts caution fight isn’t over yet
MSCI won’t drop firms like Strategy from indexes yet, but a broader rule change may still be on the table
What to know:
- Shares of Strategy rose 6% after MSCI decided not to exclude digital asset treasury firms from its indexes.
- The decision alleviates immediate pressure on companies holding large amounts of bitcoin but not directly operating in the blockchain sector.
- Analysts caution that the situation may not be resolved, as future MSCI rule changes could still impact firms like Strategy.
Top Stories
