June roundup: who’s hiring and who’s firing in the crypto space

July 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitpanda

Binance, Ripple, and Kraken are hiring, while Coinbase, Gemini, and Crypto.com have announced staff cuts.

Amid the recent volatility in the crypto market affecting investments and stock prices, many firms made significant staff cuts in the last month while others continued hiring.

In June, major crypto exchange Gemini was among the first to reportedly cut 10% of its employees amid the bear market, saying conditions were “likely to persist for some time.” Coinbase and Crypto.com followed, announcing plans to reduce staff by 18% and 5%, respectively. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also cited the so-called crypto winter as part of the reason for the cuts, but also stated the firm had been growing “too quickly.”

Market conditions largely have not changed following many decisions to downsize, and other firms have been forced to make cuts. Crypto lending firm BlockFi announced it would be reducing staff by roughly 20% on June 13, and Cointelegraph reported on Thursday that FTX was in the process of finalizing a deal to purchase the platform’s remaining assets for $25 million. BlockFi CEO Zac Prince denied reports of the sale.

Lots of market rumors out there - I can 100% confirm that we aren’t being sold for $25M.

I encourage everyone to trust only details that you hear directly from @BlockFi.

We will share more w you as soon as we can.
— Zac Prince (@BlockFiZac) June 30, 2022

Austrian crypto and stock trading platform Bitpanda announced on June 24 a mass layoff as it aims to “get out of it financially healthy” amid the current bear market, bringing the company to a “size of about 730 people.” At the time of publication, the crypto firm has no current job openings on its website.

However, many companies in the crypto space are continuing to operate as normal, seemingly prepared to weather the storm — at least one is even picking up the slack. Cointelegraph reported that the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority was open to hiring terminated employees from crypto firms in an effort to “bulk up” its capabilities.

Globally, Binance and Ripple offered thousands of jobs to replace the ones that were recently dissolved from major crypto exchanges and firms. Kraken also stood out as one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges announcing plans to continue hiring for more than 500 roles in various departments amid the market downturn. Sergey Vasylchuk, CEO of Ukraine-based decentralized staking provider Everstake, announced on June 15 that the firm was “not firing anybody.”

According to data gathered by blockchain jobs site Crypto Jobs List, companies have listed more than 3,000 jobs related to the crypto space in the United States in the last seven days — roughly 37% of all jobs posted in the last 30 days. The United Kingdom and India similarly saw a large number of crypto jobs advertised in the last seven days — 562 and 183, respectively — suggesting the industry still has room for staff.

“Kraken and Binance have shown that they plan to stay around for a long time by looking to grow their headcount during a bear market,” a spokesperson for Crypto Jobs List told Cointelegraph. “The market downturn has meant that individuals who don’t plan to stick around for long are deterred, and only serious candidates that are interested in a long-term career are left to apply, and hiring managers recognise this.”

It was not easy saying no to Super bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did.

Today, we are hiring for 2000 open positions for #Binance. pic.twitter.com/n24nrUik8O
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 15, 2022

At the time of publication, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is under $20,000, having fallen more than 37% in the last 30 days according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

Bitpanda announces layoffs citing no compromise on product quality

June 25, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitpanda

Witnessing the crypto crashes over the past several weeks from a front-row seat, Bitpanda made the “tough decision” of cutting down its employee headcount to roughly 730 people.

Austrian crypto and stock trading platform Bitpanda joins the growing list of companies to announce a mass layoff as it aims to “get out of it financially healthy” amid an unforgiving bear market.

Over the past several weeks, the bear market resulted in numerous catastrophic outcomes for many ecosystems such as Terra’s (LUNA) and Abracadabra’s Magic Internet Money (MIM) de-pegging fiasco. Witnessing the crashes from a front-row seat, Bitpanda made the “tough decision” of cutting down its employee headcount to roughly 730 people.

While the exact number of employees intimated to stop working for Bitpanda remains undisclosed, data from LinkedIn indicates that the company is in the process of laying off approximately 277 full-time and part-time employees.

In the announcement, named ‘The Way Forward,’ Bitpanda supported the move to cut down employees by highlighting the need to be “robustly well-capitalized” amid uncertain market conditions, stating:

“It is a tough, but necessary decision and we are confident that the new organizational design will help us be more focused, effective and stronger as a company.”

The company is offering itex-employees support packages which include mental health support, references and an employee assistance program (EAP). Speaking about its hypergrowth phase, a timeline when the crypto market breached the $2 trillion market capitalization, Bitpanda revealed problems with internal processes and infrastructure to successfully onboard new joiners:

“We reached a point where more people joining didn’t make us more effective, but created coordination overheads instead, particularly in this new market reality. Looking back now, we realize that our hiring speed was not sustainable. That was a mistake.”

Bitpanda has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Joining the mass reorganization drive to better suit the bear market, American crypto trading firm Coinbase announced the closure of its Coinbase Pro services.

As Cointelegraph reported, Coinbase Pro’s services will gradually migrate to Advanced Trade, Coinbase’s new trading section accessible via the exchange’s website — over the next several months.

Bitpanda cryptocurrency exchange scores registration in Spain

June 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitpanda

Previously, the Austrian company has obtained licenses in France, Italy, Sweden and Czech Republic.

Bitpanda, an Austrian cryptocurrency exchange that was valued at $4.1 billion last summer, have received registration as a virtual currency exchange and digital asset custody service provider in Spain.

The company’s name appeared in the Bank of Spain’s registry for crypto enterprises on June 16. The registry itself opened in October 2021. At the moment, it includes 15 companies. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Bitpanda's representative specified that the company has been de-facto operating in the country since 2014.

Spain marks the sixth European country in which the Vienna-based company has obtained a license. In December 2020 it registered with the Financial Markets Authority of France, while in May and June 2022 it became the first foreign crypto provider with registration in Sweden and one of the first to get the Italian Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) license.

In the company’s announcement, Bitpanda co-founder and co-CEO Eric Demuth pledged its commitment to providing a safe environment for trading amid the market crisis:

“As recent market developments have shown, where you buy your digital assets matters and we are going to always be prioritizing the safety of our community, as we are working relentlessly to build the best and the safest investment platform in Europe and beyond.”

In February 2022, Bitpanda acquired U.K.-based Trustology, a crypto custodian and wallet service provider, intending to rebrand it to Bitpanda Custody and start providing native crypto custody services focused on institutional investors. The exchange platform claimed its maiden acquisition is the first step toward the launch of Bitpanda Pro, its prime brokerage services platform and an over-the-counter trading desk.

As the company representative told Cointelegraph:

"We have applied for registration in every market we have a presence, and have already secured registration and licences as a virtual asset service provider in Italy, Austria, Sweden, France, the Czech Republic and now Spain. We do of course want to expand our presence in further European markets, but will only do so when we can ensure we are fully compliant with local regulatory requirements."

Under the upcoming Markets in Crypto Assetsbill, European Union authorities would grant crypto companies an opportunity to operate on the pan-European level, should they get registered in one of the Union's countries.

Penalties and extra time: The scoreboard for soccer club crypto deals

February 25, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Argentina

Despite Turkish government regulations having hamstrung Bitci’s soccer sponsorship deals, footballing crypto companies already have home-field advantage.

The world’s most popular sport suffered an own-goal as European clubs canceled their partnerships with Bitci, a Turkish crypto exchange. However, plenty of substitute crypto companies are on the bench, ready to bring crypto to the mainstream through soccer.

Growing yet unclear cryptocurrency regulations in Turkey have reportedly hampered the company’s ability to make payments, leading to a lack of confidence among major soccer clubs.

Portugal’s Sporting CP — the green-and-white-striped footballers famed for being the club where Cristiano Ronaldo cut his teeth — and Italian Serie A club Spezia have also canceled their partnership with Bitci. The F1 powerhouse Mclaren Racing terminated its sponsorship deal with Bitci earlier in February.

Barcelona also recently announced that it would favor a partnership deal with Binance over Spotify despite the launch of its fan token in April 2021.

While it would appear that crypto and soccer partnerships are down to 10 players, deals, enthusiasm and sponsorships for crypto among football clubs are an open goal.

Of England’s 20 football clubs, 17 have at least one deal with a cryptocurrency firm. For Watford soccer club, not only does Dogecoin (DOGE) appear on the shirtsleeve, but Stake.com sponsors the main body of the shirt.

*Dogecoin and Stake.com on Watford FC football shirt. Source: DW*

Eighty miles Southeast of Watford, in Southampton, “the Saints,” as they are known locally, launched a Bitcoin (BTC) hunt on Wednesday. In partnerships with crypto betting site Sportsbet.io, the online quiz winner takes home a whole BTC.

Still in England, Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack sparked the beginnings of an English underdog story as he bought his local club Bedford FC. He’s keen to take on the Premier League with the help of Bitcoin and its community.

While Crypto.com recently renamed the American football stadium in Los Angeles from the Staples Center to the Crypto.com arena, in Italy, the entire football league is sponsored by the cryptocurrency giant.

Elsewhere, fan tokens are also growing in popularity among European football fans. As Cointelegraph reported, blockchain sports firm Chiliz has caught the eye of major football clubs, while the Socios platform announced a deal with UEFA.

*The Inter Milan fan token appearing on the shirt. Source: Inter.it*

While a crypto sponsor for a European national team may have to wait until next season, the Argentine team was the first national soccer club worldwide to take on a crypto sponsor. Binance recently partnered with the white and sky blues.

Finally, as European soccer waits for a national team to be sponsored by crypto, in rugby football, the Bitpanda crypto exchange now sponsors the Azurri. The exchange made the announcement ahead of Italy’s clash with the Six Nations rugby teams in January.

Ciao ragazzi!

We are proud to announce that we will be the main sponsor of @Federugby, the Italian Rugby Federation.

So, @SixNationsRugby fans, get ready to spot our logo whenever gli Azzurri are playing!

Find out more: https://t.co/JVBrA641hF pic.twitter.com/LGgKphmL0s
— Bitpanda (@bitpanda) January 20, 2022

BitPanda to provide crypto custody with the acquisition of FCA-approved Trustology

February 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitpanda

BitPanda said Trustology acquisition would be the first step towards launching its prime brokerage service BitPanda pro.

BitPanda, a Vienna-based crypto exchange platform, has made its maiden acquisition in the form of United Kingdom-based Trustology, a crypto custodian and wallet service provider, for an undisclosed amount.

BitPanda will rebrand the newly acquired fintech firm to BitPanda custody in a bid to start its native crypto custody services focused on institutional investors. The firm plans to begin its newly announced crypto custody services by taking custody of all its assets across its retail and institutional businesses. The firm claimed it would become the largest crypto custodian by doing so.

The crypto platform’s first-ever acquisition comes after a series of fundraising throughout 2021. The crypto exchange platform raised a total of $450 million in multiple funding rounds, giving it a valuation of $4.1 billion, and now the platform looks to expand its services and build a crypto brokerage ecosystem like many other leading crypto platforms.

While the official financial details of the deal weren’t made public, a spokesperson for the company told Cointelegraph that the deal was in eight figures.

The latest acquisition of a firm approved by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would help BitPanda offer digital asset custody services across the U.K. and also help it expand its range of services for the existing customers. The exchange platform claimed its maiden acquisition is the first step towards the launch of BitPanda pro, its prime brokerage services platform, and an over-the-counter trading desk expected to be launched in the near future.

"Through Trustology's technology, we will be able to offer custody solutions to all of our customers - whether retail or institutional," BitPanda founder and CEO Eric Demuth told Cointelegraph. He added:

"This acquisition will help us with our growth, expansion, and ultimate goal: to create the leading investment platform for everyone in Europe and beyond. We will continue to create synergies between all our different services and products."

BitPanda started its work towards Bitanda Pro right after its last funding round of $263 million in August last year when it on-boarded former JP Morgan exec to lead its fully-regulated crypto exchange. The firm plans to continue building for its brokerage services throughout 2022.

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Bitpanda taps former JP Morgan exec to lead fully-regulated crypto exchange

October 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Investors are treating crypto in the same way as stocks and ETFs, the new Bitpanda Pro CEO told Cointelegraph.

The crypto ecosystem picked yet another executive from traditional finance. Two months after raising $263 million, the Europe-based cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda announced that Joshua Barraclough, a former exec at JP Morgan, joined its ranks as the CEO of its fully-regulated digital asset exchange Bitpanda Pro.

Before transitioning into the crypto world, Barraclough worked as the global head of the fintech team and then as the co-head of digital innovation at JP Morgan. Answering Cointelegraph’s questions about the transition, Barraclough said that leaving JP Morgan to join Bitpanda was an easy decision.

“I have always been at the bleeding edge of innovation, and my job at JP Morgan was to launch new businesses to challenge and transform traditional finance,” he said, adding:

“The crypto ecosystem is the most exciting part of that right now, with an incredible pace of change and growth in adoption. We want further to bridge the gap between digital assets and traditional finance, building on my prior experience.”

Barraclough reminded the skyrocketed crypto adoption and fresh institutional money. “This wave of institutional investment, unaffected by many of the regulatory worries of the last bull run, has proven the viability of Bitcoin (BTC) as a secure store of value and inflation hedge,” he explained.

He also pointed to the increasing interest in other Layer 1 protocols such as Solana and Avalanche and innovative DeFi applications. “Far from being the meme-fueled gamble that many still view it as, investors are treating cryptocurrencies in the same way as stocks and ETFs,” he added.

“Bitcoin is a $1 trillion asset and has seen the world’s biggest investors allocate significant portions of their portfolios to the currency. When the likes of JPMorgan and Blackrock are taking an investment seriously, it’s a sure sign that it’s here to stay.”

Speaking about cryptocurrencies’ role as a gateway to more traditional investments, Barraclough highlighted that crypto is gaining traction as the first investment asset for younger digital natives and “acts as a gateway to further financial education, building wealth through a diversified portfolio.”

Bitpanda is known to offer digitized versions of precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. This portfolio is yet to be added to Bitpanda Pro, an advanced and EU-wide regulated version of the main platform. Barraclough told Cointelegraph that the exchange is “actively looking at offering even more traditional assets other than gold and silver, using blockchain technology and tokenization to facilitate this.”

Bitpanda has secured $263 million in a Valar Ventures-led Series C round, bringing its total market value to $4.1 billion. Besides new hires, the company then announced that it would use the fresh capital to expand to new markets in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.