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The bankruptcies of once high-profile crypto players are “painful” but helpful said Michael Saylor but added industry oversight is still needed.
High-profile crypto bankruptcies and a hearty price crash are necessary evils to help the industry grow, while greater regulation is a must, according to Microstrategy co-founder Michael Saylor.
In a Feb. 3 interview on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Saylor opined on potential incoming United States crypto regulation after the bankruptcy of FTX, saying:
“The crypto meltdown was painful in the short term, but it's necessary over the long term for the industry to grow up.”
He added the industry “has some good ideas” — implying the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning network — but added some in the space “implemented those good ideas in an irresponsible fashion.”
Today’s interview with @MorganLBrennan covered the success of @MicroStrategy, global adoption of #Bitcoin and #Lightning⚡️, the evolution of the crypto industry, and the digital transformation of money. pic.twitter.com/bEnLOVbpiJ
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) February 3, 2023
Saylor said the crypto space needs direction from entities long-involved in the traditional financial markets and input from regulators — in particular the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“What [the industry] needs is adult supervision. It needs the Goldman Sachs’ and the Morgan Stanley's and the BlackRock’s to come into the industry. It needs clear guidelines from Congress. It needs clear rules of the road from the SEC.”
This “meltdown,” according to Saylor, educated many on crypto while simultaneously revealing that it’s “time for the world to provide a constructive, transparent framework for digital assets” so the financial system can move “into the 21st century.”
Saylor also responded to criticisms leveled by Charlie Munger, the vice chair of insurance and investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, saying the 99-year-old investment veteran should take time to study Bitcoin.
On Feb. 1, Munger opined that crypto is “not a currency, not a commodity, and not a security” instead calling it “gambling” and believing the U.S. should “obviously” bring in laws to ban crypto.
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Saylor agreed Mungers crypto-criticism wasn’t “totally off” but there are “10,000 crypto tokens which aren’t gambling,” adding:
“Charlie and the other critics, they're members of the Western elite and they're continually prodded for an opinion on Bitcoin and they haven't had the time to study it.”
He added if Munger “spent 100 hours studying” Bitcoin then “he would be more bullish on Bitcoin than I am.”
Saylor pointed to emerging markets such as Lebanon, Argentina and Nigeria which have high crypto-use rates and use cases spanning from inflation hedging to remittances.
“I've never really met someone [...] that spent some time to think about it that wasn't enthusiastic about Bitcoin.”
It was a tough month for crypto employees with at least 14 firms announcing staff reductions in January.
Crypto companies tightened their purse strings in the first month of 2023, with at least 2,900 crypto staff cut loose across 14 crypto firms in January.
The latest firm to reportedly initiate a layoff is the crypto infrastructure provider Prime Trust which reduced its employee count by a third according to reports.
The reduction would equate to an estimated 100 or so staff cut as Prime had 312 employees on LinkedIn at the time of writing.
Other recent cuts over the last few days include 30 staff from the crypto platform Matrixport being let go according to a Jan. 27 Bloomberg report, while an earlier Jan. 23 report from The Information said roughly 100 staff were laid off from the crypto exchange Gemini.
The largest staff layoff for the month of January was initiated by crypto exchange Coinbase which reduced its headcount by around 950 employees on Jan. 10.
Its peer exchanges Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi trailed with reductions of around 500, 330 and 320 employees respectively.
Embattled crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiaries similarly saw significant layoffs with 485 workers sacked in January alone as the firm navigates a financial crisis.
The DCG-owned Luno saw the most layoffs, while DCG itself slashed 66 employees, its subsidiary lending platform Genesis cut 63 jobs and its asset management firm HQ Digital shuttered affecting 26 jobs.
Related: Crypto recruitment execs reveal the safest jobs amid layoff season
Rounding off the list were the 200 members of staff let go by crypto bank Silvergate, the 110 employees cut from the Blockchain.com exchange and the 96 staff terminated from MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys.
Meanwhile, 20 staff members were let go from the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace SuperRare.
These staff cuts came despite Bitcoin (BTC) performing strongly in the month, targeting nearly $25,000 as institutional demand has continued to increase.
However, the large-scale crypto industry layoffs were not in isolation. Around 48,000 people in January alone were let go from just four companies: Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce.
While some may believe there's more gloom ahead, crypto hedge fund Pantera Capital believes there’s never been a better time to start a blockchain company claiming bear markets provide “less noise and distraction from building.”