Benzinga - Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is reportedly laying off 10% of its staff, marking the company's third round of layoffs since June, The Information reported.
The layoffs come as a result of the bankruptcy of crypto lender Genesis Global Capital and Gemini's inability to pay out funds to its Earn account holders.
In the internal message, Cameron Winklevoss, the President and co-founder of Gemini, stated: "It was our hope to avoid further reductions after this summer, however, persistent negative macroeconomic conditions and unprecedented fraud perpetuated by bad actors in our industry have left us with no other choice but to revise our outlook and further reduce headcount."
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The Winklevoss brothers, who founded Gemini, have also been engaged in a public dispute with Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Genesis, over the $900 million owed to Earn customers.
DCG is also the parent company of CoinDesk.
Gemini previously cut 10% of its staff in June, followed by additional layoffs in July, according to TechCrunch.
The company's headcount has reportedly decreased from 1,100 at the start of 2022 to between 650 and 700 people by the end of the year, according to The Information.
Many major crypto companies, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Blockchain.com, and ConsenSys have also been forced to cut staff in recent weeks due to the ongoing crypto market downturn. Gemini has not commented on the recent layoffs.
Recently, Gemini announced that it will not be able to fulfill customer redemptions for the next five days.
The reason for this is that its lending partner, Genesis Global Capital, has paused withdrawals.
In a statement on its official blog post, the company said "The past week has been an incredibly challenging and stressful time for our industry. We are disappointed that the Earn program SLA will not be met, but we are encouraged by Genesis’ and its parent company Digital Currency Group’s commitment to doing everything in their power to fulfill their obligations to customers under the Earn program."
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