Cryptocurrency
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Crypto companies are continuing to make job cuts amid the bear market and wider layoffs across the technology sector.

More than 200 employees were made redundant across three crypto firms last week. Open-source software lab Protocol Labs cut 89 jobs, crypto exchange Bittrex cut 83, and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis cut 44.

Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs, announced the job cuts in a post on 3 February, saying that the company needed to focus its headcount down to “the most impactful and business-critical efforts”.

The decision to cut 89 jobs, more than a fifth of the company’s total workforce, is to ensure Protocol Labs is in a good position to weather the continuing crypto winter, Benet said.

He added that the company must brace for potential further downturns in the market, describing recent months as “extremely challenging” times for the crypto sector.

At Bittrex, employees received an email from CEO Richie Lai on 1 February informing them that layoffs were necessary to “ensure the long-term viability” of the company.

The email was leaked via Twitter on 2 February. Lai said that despite leadership efforts to lower costs and increase efficiencies in recent months, the company had been unable to achieve the “results necessary”

The email added that market conditions have forced Bittrex to rethink its strategy and “balance its investments with the new economic environment”.

Washington State employment data from 2 February showed that Bittrex cut 83 jobs.

Chainalysis let 44 of its 900 employees go, accounting for nearly 5% of its workforce.

Maddie Kennedy, director of communications at Chainalysis, told Forbes that the cut jobs were those “primarily in sales”.

These latest layoffs follow on from January where close to 3,000 employees lost their jobs across 14 crypto firms.

Coinbase had the most layoffs of those firms, cutting 950 jobs on 10 January.