The recent bear market brought nothing but destruction into the crypto-verse. Several platforms were shutting shop, letting go of employees as their portfolios turned red. The Q2 earnings of almost every platform associated with the crypto industry displayed losses. Robinhood, a prominent trading app, also mirrored this notion.
While Robinhood started as a stock trading app, the inclusion of crypto brought significant gains to it. This year, the platform went a step ahead and decided to expand its crypto portfolio with the addition of Shiba Inu [SHIB] and, more recently, Chainlink [LINK]. While this was expected to boost the firm’s revenue, things turned differently following the crypto crash.
Vlad Tenev, the CEO of Robinhood, penned a post revealing a new round of layoffs.
Twenty-three percent of the workforce was estimated to be around 780 employees. It should be noted that this wasn’t the first time this year that Robinhood cut its workforce. Just before its Q1 earnings release, the firm laid off 9 percent of its workforce.
Citing the reason behind Robinhood’s latest layoff, Tenev wrote,
“…we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody”
Is Crypto not so favorable for Robinhood?
In March, Tenev affirmed that several new cryptocurrencies would be brought into Robinhood. In addition to this, he had stated,
“We want to make a huge investment and hire a ton of people. We’re going to try and get that done as fast as possible. We might add some new coins along the way.”
However, in his latest blog post, Tenev wrote,
“As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory — this is on me.”
While Robinhood added an array of cryptocurrencies, the latest crash and its current situation could limit the inclusion of more assets.
Furthermore, the platform is currently being scrutinized by the New York State Department of Financial Services [NYDFS]. Robinhood’s crypto unit was hit with a $30 million fine for violating anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations. While the platform is on a layoff spree, the firm was accused of being “insufficiently staffed.”
With so many tragic events unfolding for Robinhood, the firm is speculated to maintain a low profile in the crypto-verse.