Gemini will dismiss 10% of employees due to the crypto winter
Cryptocurrency company Gemini of the Winklevoss brothers announced a “difficult decision” to fire 10% of its employees.
Gemini built their relationship with the staff on the principle of “team community”, so parting with “extra astronauts” is probably a painful step for the owners. The dismissed workers will receive a social package with medical benefits and a personal interview. At the same time, the company’s physical offices are also closing, so the farewell will be virtual.
In a letter to employees, CEOs of the company directly use the concept of “crypto winter”, a symbolic name for the period of a sectoral recession, when the value of cryptocurrencies falls not because the operational performance is poor but because everything, including bitcoin, falls.
Reduction is standard practice for periods of crisis in the economy. But in the case of Gemini, additional concerns are caused by the closure of representative offices. The fact is that the company had enough problems without a bear market: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the Winklevosses “for making false or misleading statements regarding their certification of bitcoin futures.”
Taken together, the problem looks much more severe, as it is highly likely that Gemini will have to face either heavy fines or legal costs (in case they want to prove the legitimacy of their policies).
Gemini is, in many ways, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’ “family team”. But when it comes to reducing costs, they behave like corporate whales, cutting staff costs rather than their earnings.
Crypto investors have to consider this event in the context of the behavior of other market participants, and, unfortunately, it is symptomatic: Coinbase, 2TM Group, Rain Financial, and other exchanges took the path of downsizing. We have to admit that, as a whole, the market is adverse, and the “crypto winter” may turn out to be quite cold.
