Crypto exchange WazirX lays off 40% of staff in a bid to weather volatile markets

Indian crypto exchange WazirX laid off 40% of its staff last week, including members from its policy, communications and marketing teams, as per reports.

WazirX in a statement to Coindesk said "The crypto market has been in the grip of a bear market because of the current global economic slowdown. The Indian crypto industry has had its unique problems with respect to taxes, regulations and banking access. This has lead to a dramatic fall in volumes in all Indian crypto exchanges."

On August 5, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that it froze bank deposits worth Rs 64.67 crore as part of a money laundering probe against the exchange. Shortly after this move, WazirX's assets were also unfrozen on September 12.

The company itself has been embroiled in controversy for a little over a year now, when Binance's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Changpeng Zhao said that it did not own WazirX, shortly after the ED's actions.

Crypto lay offs continue

With these recent layoffs, WazirX joins the long list of crypto firms looking to cut down on workforce due to the economic downturn. Since June, several crypto companies began lay offs, freezing withdrawals and going to any extent to stem losses.

This includes Coinbase, which in July, had laid off over 1,100 employees. Others include Gemini, Robinhood, BlockFi, BitMex, Crypto.com, Bybit, Huobi, Banxa, Vauld.

While bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network had downsized a quarter of its workforce—nearly 150 employees in the month of August as it battled financial challenges.

On the contrary, other global crypto exchanges including Binance, Kraken, as well as Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, on June 16 announced that they were planning to hire thousands of new employees in the middle of persisting market conditions. Kraken also announced that it would be hiring for 500 positions and Binance was hiring employees for 2,000 jobs worldwide.