Binance Not Planning Layoffs, Set to Hire 500 People in H1
- Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by spot trading volume, will not be laying a single employee, a spokesperson confirmed.
- The spokesperson added that the crypto exchange has close to 500 positions that need to be filled in the first half of 2023.
- The statement comes at a time when multiple crypto exchanges reduced a significant portion of their workforce in January.
- Three US senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, have sent a letter to CZ and Binance.US CEO, expressing their concerns regarding the firms’ activities.
Ever since the onset of a bear market in the beginning of 2022, the crypto market has been struggling to keep itself on its toes as many crypto firms have let their employees go and many have posted significant losses on their balance sheets. However, the world’s largest crypto exchange by spot trading volume, Binance, continues to remain one of the crypto entities that have yet to announce laying off a single employee.
According to a report from Cointelegraph, citing a statement from a spokesperson at Binance, the leading crypto exchange has no plans to lay off employees this year. Interestingly, the media outlet received a tip that the exchange is planning to reduce its headcount following a spike in employee layoffs in the crypto sector in January, the majority of which came from crypto exchanges.
It is crucial to note that Binance has around 500 positions that need to be filled in the first half of 2023, as also confirmed by the spokesperson, who completely refuted the chances of any layoffs being planned at the crypto exchange.
“As of today, we are actively hiring for more than 500 roles with the goal of filling them by the end of H1 […] We are not planning any layoffs,” said the spokesperson.
Interestingly, at the time of writing, the listing page of Binance shows that the exchange is actively hiring employees for around 463 roles across various departments, including business development, communications, customer support, and engineering.
Additionally, as reported earlier by Bitnation, the world’s largest crypto exchange plans to go on a hiring spree in 2023 and expand its staff by 15–30%. The founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ in the crypto space, confirmed that his firm is still profitable, adding that it increased headcount in 2022 from 2,000 to over 8,000 as the year ended.
In 2022, many crypto exchanges will let go of a significant number of their employees due to unfavorable market conditions and global macroeconomic conditions. However, the first month of 2023 was also the same for the crypto market, as crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Huobi, Blockchain.com, Crypto.com, and Luno fired many employees.
As per a report from CoinGecko, around 84.8% of the crypto layoffs in January can be attributed to crypto exchanges reducing their workforce. On the other hand, in the month of February, the popular company behind CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, and Flow Blockchain, Dapper Labs, fired 20% of its workforce after letting go of another 20% of its workforce, or about 130 people, in November 2022 following the collapse of FTX.
It is vital to note that the Binance spokesperson confirmed that the exchange has hired close to 600 people since the beginning of 2023 and will hire more. However, the crypto exchange has attracted the attention of regulators, and recently, the SEC issued a Wells Notice to the owner and issuer of BUSD, Paxos, which has now shut down the creation of the stablecoin due to regulator issues. The SEC believes that BUSD is an unregistered security.
Moreover, the crypto exchange’s $1 billion bid to take over the assets belonging to the bankrupt crypto lending company Voyager Digital is also in jeopardy, as the Texas State Securities Board and the Department of Banking have expressed concerns regarding the acquisition deal between Binance.US and Voyager.
Another important fact to note here is that three United States senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, have sent a letter to CZ and Binance. US CEO Brian Shroder and expressed their concerns regarding the companies’ activities. The senators also requested detailed information from the executives regarding the exchange.
“Your companies’ apparent attempts at evading the enforcement of anti-money laundering laws, securities laws, information reporting requirements, and other financial regulations cast serious doubt on the stability and legitimacy of Binance and its related entities, and on your commitment to your customers,” read the letter.