In response to OKX's announcement that it will "continue to hire outstanding people," the UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange BitOasis has laid off nine employees because of the market collapse.
Leading crypto businesses continue to adopt two distinct strategies to combat the market turbulence.
Focusing on continuing expansion, OKX stated with confidence, "Our company has endured numerous market cycles. We've learnt that market downturns are an absolute chance to ramp up recruiting, product development, and service expansion."
Despite the general market weakness, crypto platforms including Binance, Kraken, and FTX had previously announced hiring intentions.
Binance has disclosed that it will hire 2,000 new personnel this year, whereas Kraken has over 500 open positions.
In contrast, Reuters reported that BitOasis fired off approximately 5% of its workforce, with CEO and co-founder Ola Doudin claiming, "Last week, nine people were laid off across offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman."
BitOasis follows the example established by companies such as Coinbase, BlockFi, and Crypto.com, which are implementing layoffs in response to the crypto winter.
BlockFi has also reduced its headcount by 20%, while Crypto.com has reduced its workforce by 5%.
Nonetheless, the chief policy officer of Coinbase, Faryar Shirzad, warned in a recent interview that additional layoffs are likely in the near future, given that the Nasdaq-listed business has already reduced its headcount by 18%.
Multiple panic sell-offs have been driven by widespread market weakness caused by the Fed rate hike and expectation of future tightening of monetary policies, as well as an unclear economic outlook and crypto platforms freezing withdrawals.
However, market volatility caused Bitcoin to go below $18,000 for the first time since 2020 during the weekend. According to CoinGecko, Bitcoin has risen past $20,000 in the last 24 hours.
At the time of publication, the worldwide cryptocurrency market capitalization is nearly $930 billion.
According to comments made by Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities to the Financial Times, the market will not immediately return to profitability.
Ives said a gloomy winter "lies ahead for cryptocurrencies as the era of free money comes to a close this weekend with another brutal sell-off across the board. All risky investments are being dumped out the window."
And as a result of the anticipated decline in risk assets, including cryptocurrency, some businesses continue to be cautious about new hires. The Fear and Greed Index for Bitcoin reached a record low on June 18.
