Billionaire Bitcoin enthusiasts Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss twins are laying off 10% of the workforce at Gemini, the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian.
The twins announced in a blog post on Thursday morning that the industry is in a “contraction phase” known as “crypto winter,” which has been “further compounded by the current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil.”
“We are not alone,” the memo continued. Fellow crypto exchange Coinbase recently reported that revenue had fallen 27% from a year ago, as had overall usage.
The crypto market has seen dramatic price crashes recently. $500 billion was wiped off the sector’s total market value as terraUSD — the most popular U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin lost its peg.
Gemini has been in the business since 2014 and is valued at $7.1 billion as of its last funding round. The firm has 1,033 people on its payroll, according to PitchBook.
In the memo Gemini said it wants to focus only on products that are critical to its mission — and employees included should be “right-sized” for the “current, turbulent market conditions that are likely to persist for some time.”
