Nansen lays off 30% of its workforce

The CEO of Nansen cited two reasons for the layoffs, including an overly aggressive hiring phase during the bull market and the prolonged crypto bear market that followed.

Blockchain analytics platform Nansen has announced the trimming of its workforce by 30%. On May 30, the Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik disclosed on Twitter that the company had to make an “extremely difficult decision to reduce the size of the Nansen team.” 

Full statement: pic.twitter.com/cxSTtZBiZU

— Alex Svanevik (@ASvanevik) May 30, 2023

Svanevik gave two major reasons for the reduction in Nansen’s workforce. The first was the company’s rapid scaling during its initial years of operation, which “led the organization to taking on surface area that’s not truly part of Nansen’s core strategy.”

Svanevik also cited a brutal year for crypto markets as the second reason for the layoffs. Despite efforts to diversify revenue streams through enterprise and institutional customers, Nansen’s cost base remained relatively high compared to the company’s current position. He added that although the company has “several years of runway,” its “priority is to build a sustainable business.”

The CEO said laid-off employees would be entitled to severance packages. 

Related: Crypto layoffs decelerate, with layoffs falling to 570 in February

Mass layoffs continue to plague the crypto industry, though they have slowed significantly in recent months. In January, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced a workforce reduction of 20%. The decision to cut 950 jobs was attributed to Coinbase’s efforts to decrease operating costs by approximately 25% amid the ongoing crypto winter. 

At the beginning of the year, companies owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG), a crypto venture capital firm, also laid off over 500 employees due to bearish market conditions exacerbated by the collapse of FTX. 

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