FalconX Cuts 10% of Jobs as Crypto Market Struggles

A company called FalconX has laid off about 10% of its workers around the world. FalconX is a brokerage firm, which means it helps people buy and sell digital assets like cryptocurrency. The company made this decision because the crypto market has been going through a long rough patch, with prices staying low for a long time. This kind of slow period in a market is called a bear market.

FalconX has offices in seven cities around the world, including Silicon Valley, New York, London, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Before the layoffs, the company employed around 350 people in total. The cuts hit its Singapore office especially hard, where about half the staff were let go. Those workers included senior managers and people who worked in sales and accounting.

FalconX also made a business decision about its Singapore office. The company plans to pull back its application for a special permit from Singapore's financial regulator, called the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Instead, FalconX will focus on a type of trading called crypto derivatives, which does not require that permit. This change in strategy lets the company keep operating in Singapore without needing the licence.

In a written statement, FalconX said it is focusing its money and people on its most important areas. The company still wants to have a presence in the Asia Pacific region. It is also planning to grow its business in Europe, where it has a regulated operation. The company did not give details about which specific jobs or locations would grow.

FalconX is not the only crypto company dealing with these challenges. Other well-known companies like Crypto.com, Coinbase Global, and Gemini have also cut jobs recently. These companies are all facing similar problems, including high costs, a weak market, and fast-growing competition from artificial intelligence technology. Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency, is still trading at about half its all-time high price of over $126,000.

FalconX was founded in 2018 by its CEO, Raghu Yarlagadda. Since then, the company has helped process about $2.5 trillion in trading. In 2022, it raised $150 million from big investors like GIC and B Capital, giving the company a value of $8 billion. Over the past year and a half, FalconX also bought several other companies, including a derivatives firm called Arbelos Markets, a crypto investment products company called 21shares, and a blockchain technology company called bloXroute.