According to a recent report, Coinsquare, a leading cryptocurrency exchange in Canada has reportedly laid off about 1/3rd of its employees. This news is coming after at least five other exchanges landed in trouble due to reasons ranging from overcoming financial difficulties and technical issues, coping with coin losses and hack attacks, to the need to adapt to a prolonged bear market.
40 Out of 150 Axed
Leading Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, Coinsquare has fired approximately 40 out of its 150 employees. Staffers that were laid off include two key executives- COO Robert Mueller, who joined Coinsquare about a year ago, and CFO Ken Tsang, an investment banker formerly employed by major financial institutions such as Bank of Montreal and Bank of Canada.
Martin Hauck, the company’s Head of Talent said that:
“The ever-evolving cryptocurrency space has been volatile and unpredictable. Many similar companies in our industry have had to make some tough choices in recent months and Coinsquare has had to as well. The company has made the decision to part ways with a number of talented members of the Coinsquare team.”
Coinsquare Hired A lot
In its bid to grow its business, Coinsquare joined 25 new markets in the European Union in December, and also entered into a partnership with Dlta 21 and the bank of Montreal last summer.
Also, in December, the exchange bought Blockeq, a crypto wallet provider for 12 million dollars. The CEO of Coinsquare, Cole Diamond said that despite the layoffs, the company has also employed over 20 new staffers which includes 14 people who joined the team after acquiring Tipcoin, a company which developed a blockchain-based loyal rewards platform.
Diamond also said that: “the most volatile market,” the company’s staff grew from three people to a high of 150. “We’ve decided to make some cutbacks to make sure we protect our strong position in the market,” He continued by saying that other Canadian exchanges are also facing difficulties and that the exchange’s greatest competitor, QuadrigaCX has now shut down.
