Protocol Labs, Chainalysis and Bittrex add to crypto layoff season

February 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bittrex

Crypto execs suggested that the "extremely challenging" times forced them to cut jobs in order to “weather this extended" crypto winter.

Several crypto firms have made job cuts this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining “impactful” employees as they prepare for a “longer downturn.”

At least 216 jobs were slashed between three crypto firms – open-source software laboratory Protocol Labs, blockchain data firm Chainalysis and U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with reductions of 89, 83 and 44 employees respectively.

Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs, the parent company of Filecoin (FIL), announced the job cuts in a blog post on Feb. 3 stating that the company has had to focus its headcount “against the most impactful and business critical efforts.”

He stated that the company's decision to cut “89 roles,” approximately 21% of its workforce, was to ensure it is well positioned to “weather this extended winter.”

Benet suggested that the company must “prepare for a longer downturn,” given it has been an “extremely challenging” time for the crypto industry.

Meanwhile Bittrex employees were informed by CEO Richie Lai over email on Feb. 1 that the company has made a reduction to its workforce to “ensure the long-term viability" of the company.

The email was leaked via Twitter on Feb. 2, in which Lai stated that despite the leadership team “working aggressively” to reduce expenses and increase efficiencies over the last several months, the efforts have not produced the "results necessary."

Lai added that the market conditions have forced the company to reset their strategy and balance its “investments with the new economic environment.”

According to Washington State employment data on Feb. 2 it was revealed that Bittrex cut 83 jobs.

Maddie Kennedy, director of communications at Chainalysis, told Forbes on Feb. 1 that those “primarily in sales” at the company were let go, as 44 of its 900 employees, approximately 4.8% of the workforce, were slashed.

These layoffs come after news that at least 2,900 staff were cut across 14 crypto firms in January.

Coinbase had the largest layoffs amongst those firms, cutting 950 of its staff on Jan. 10.

Meanwhile competitor exchanges Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi had reductions of approximately 500, 330 and 320 staff respectively.

Cointelegraph reached out for comment from Protocol Labs, Chainalysis and Bittrex but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

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Huobi and Solaris crypto-to-fiat debit card launches in the EU

January 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The Visa-backed debit card will allow Huobi users in the European Economic Area (EEA) to pay from their crypto accounts at point of sale stations globally.

As the crypto space continues to expand into the mainstream, bridging the gap between digital currencies and fiat currency is a priority for many legacy financial institutions.

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi announced its partnership with Solaris, a European financial services provider, to launch a crypto-to-fiat debit card.

The program, which Visa has approved, allows Huobi users to use their digital assets at the point of sale globally. Users residing in the European Economic Area (EEA) will have access to the card beginning in the second quarter of 2023.

The EEA comprises all 27 European Union member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Andrea Ramoino, the chief strategy officer at Solaris hinted at future developments in its partnership with Huobi in his comment.

“This is just the first step in our partnership as we look ahead to delivering more payment options to users in the EEA region and beyond."

This is not the first crypto-to-fiat card available to residents of the E.U. In 2020, Binance launched its own Visa-accredited crypto-to-fiat card, which allows Europeans to pull funds straight from their Binance accounts.

Outside of E.U. Visa has been an active proponent in bridging the crypto-fiat gap. In October 2022, Blockchain.com announced its partnership with Visa to offer a crypto debit, which is only available to residents of the United States.

Prior to the FTX scandal, it had also partnered with Visa to offer a debit card in 40 countries.

Most recently, the financial service provider worked with the fintech company ZELF, to launch an anonymous debit card with a crypto recharge. This allows users to open a checking account based in the U.S. dollar with only their name, email, and phone number.

Prior to the start of 2023, Visa also hinted at a feature that would allow users to auto-pay bills from their crypto wallet.

Huobi delists 33 tokens in one day citing trading risk, low volume

January 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Some tokens were delisted due to "severe violation of regulations."

According to a Jan. 11 announcement, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi said that it would delist 33 tokens consisting of tickers ABT, ATP, APN, AST,DIE, DHT, DFA, EDEN, GEAR, HC, INDI, IOI, INV, IRIS, GCOIN, GOF, KMA, MTA, NAS, OPUL, PEARL, PRIMATE, QASH, SMT, SLC, SKU, SOC, STC, TALK, VALUE, WHALE, WILD and YAM. Effective Jan. 16, the aforementioned tokens will cease trading and be delisted permanently. In explaining the decision, Huobi wrote that most of the tokens violated Section 17, Rule 1, and Section 17, Rule 2, of the Huobi Token Management Rules, which states:

"Huobi reserves the right, based on the severity of the incident, to hide or cease trading in accordance with the following events: 1) [Tokens] Labeled with "ST" warning and not canceled within 30 days. 2) [Tokens] That do not meet the requirement of having $50,000 in daily trading volume."

According to Huobi, an "ST" warning is issued for a token based on the following series of triggering events:

"Project teams fail to update the quarterly report on time or fail to update the semi-monthly reports for twice in succession as scheduled even fail to update it within 7 days after being notified to do so;"
"In 15 consecutive days, none of the trading pairs of the tokens has an average daily trading volume larger than $50,000 or other equivalent tokens."
"It is considered necessary to mark "ST" through the comprehensive evaluation of inquiry, regular review, special investigation or on-site investigation;"
"Other circumstances identified as serious violations of the Regulations by Huobi."

In particular, Huobi stated that HC (Hcash) was delisted because it violated Section 17, Rule 17 of the Huobi Token Management Rules. Rule 17 indicates a "severe violation of regulations or other high-risk scenarios." Huobi is currently ranked 17th in the world by total 24-hour trading volume. Cointelegraph previously reported that doubts mounted over the exchange's future amidst layoff rumors.

Huobi clarifies Korean operations: Two separate entities aiming at same market

January 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The company confirmed that it has already broken all the ties with Huobi Korea, its former subsidiary in South Korea.

Following the report about Huobi Korea’s planned buyout of its shares from Huobi Global, the latter revealed that the deal has already been made, and the two platforms have been operating completely separately since the Fall of 2022.

In the press release from Jan. 11, Huobi Global, which rebranded to Huobi in Nov. 2022, confirmed that it has already broken all the ties with Huobi Korea, its former subsidiary in South Korea.

According to the statement, in Oct. 2022. the About Capital fund became the largest shareholder and actual controller of Huobi Global, but the deal didn’t include Huobi Korea's shares, which belonged to Huobi Global's shareholders and were divested in the corporate structure. As the release goes:

“Huobi has no relationship with Huobi Korea and is unaware of their upcoming plans in the region. However, Huobi has heard from the Korean user community and will continue to monitor the progress of the matter.”

Huobi’s platform serves Korean users among others and has an option for the Korean language, however, these operations have nothing to do with its former subsidiary.

On Jan. 9 a South Korean media outlet reported that Huobi Korea is preparing to purchase its shares from Huobi Global and change its name. The reported deal should have included the buyout of 72% of shares in Huobi Korea, owned by Huobi Global co-founder Leon Li by Huobi Korea chairman Cho Kook-bong.

Huobi Korea was the country’s second-largest exchange at the time of its certification by the Korea Internet and Security Agency in January 2021. According to the News1 report, the Korean exchange was spurred into action by concern over the parent company’s proof-of-reserves report released in December. Huobi has experienced a number of issues in the recent week. After a $6 million outflow, it reportedly had to lay off 20% of its workforce.

Huobi