ChainCatcher news, according to Jin10 reports, an internal memo shows that Meta (formerly Facebook) plans to conduct anticipated layoffs across the company next week while accelerating the hiring of machine learning engineers.The memo indicates that layoff notifications in most countries (including the United States) will begin to be issued at 5 AM local time on Monday.Employees in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands are "not affected by layoffs due to local regulations," while employees in several other countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa will receive notifications between February 11 and February 18.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial Ltd. announced that the company has conducted layoffs as part of a regular operational review.A Circle spokesperson stated that the number of layoffs accounts for less than 6% of Circle's total workforce. The company will continue to invest in AI-driven regional growth, efficiency, and productivity. Circle will regularly review our investments and expenditures, which includes investing in teams and operational infrastructure that need development, while slightly reducing spending in other business areas and some positions. In June, Circle stated that the company had 882 employees.

ChainCatcher news reports that a representative has confirmed that Kraken, the world's sixth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has undergone a round of layoffs. As the news broke, board member Arjun Sethi was appointed as co-CEO to accelerate the company's growth alongside current CEO David Ripley.In a blog post announcing Sethi's appointment on Wednesday, the co-CEO wrote: "We are also launching transformations that fundamentally change how we innovate, build, and launch products for our customers. As we achieve net revenue of over $1 billion as a global remote organization, we have fallen into the trap of building organizational hierarchies."The article states that the company has become top-heavy, with corporate structures and decision-making leaning towards management, thus "we are making organizational discipline decisions to address this issue and eliminate hierarchies; we need to be leaner and faster."New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac earlier posted on X that two internal sources disclosed that Kraken is laying off 15%. A representative from Kraken declined to comment on this figure.

ChainCatcher news, according to Blockworks, the company behind ZKsync, Matter Labs, announced a 16% layoff, affecting 24 employees.It is reported that this is the first layoff since the company was founded six years ago and is part of Matter Labs entering the decentralized "next phase," which requires refining the "right roles in place," aimed at ensuring the company has the appropriate roles and personnel to effectively accomplish its mission.Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski clarified that the decision for layoffs is not due to the company's financial situation, and the company still plans to conduct "strategic hiring."

ChainCatcher news, Radix decentralized finance (DeFi) platform developer RDX Works has laid off 15% of its workforce to reduce costs. The company's CEO Piers Ridyard confirmed in a statement made on August 29 in the company's official Telegram group that the layoffs are part of a "refocus" and a "more comprehensive transformation" that needs to take place.Piers Ridyard stated, "One of those is cost-cutting. As part of the cost-cutting measures, we at RDX Works have made the difficult decision to reduce our total workforce by approximately 15%, and this decision has been completed today."It is reported that the Radix network officially launched its mainnet in July 2023, providing development tools to build and run decentralized applications (DApps) and financial services on the blockchain.

ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten explained the reasons for pausing the IPO and large-scale layoffs.Cory Klippsten stated: "The IPO plan was put on hold due to disagreements with a major financing partner for the custody mining business, leading to an inability to achieve the expected cash flow in the short term. Swan increased marketing expenses and hired more employees in anticipation of submitting IPO documents for SEC approval, but as the reasons for the large expenditures and funding disappeared, we had to cut back on marketing and personnel."Previous news, the Bitcoin financial services company Swan Bitcoin has abandoned its plans for a public listing, closed its managed mining department, and laid off employees in multiple departments.

ChainCatcher news, DL News reveals an email sent by Yuga Labs CEO Greg Solano to internal staff, in which Greg Solano stated that Yuga Labs has "lost its way" and is struggling under a "labyrinthine process." The announcement was made to change Yuga Labs to return to its roots. Greg Solano also mentioned that Yuga Labs needs a team that does less but does it excellently, but is currently in a difficult mode.

ChainCatcher news, payment company Block, founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has confirmed that it began layoffs this week as part of the previously disclosed plan to cut 10% of its workforce.It is reported that Block stated in last year's earnings call that it would reduce its employee count from 13,000 in the third quarter of 2023 to an "absolute maximum" of 12,000 by the end of 2024, resulting in nearly 1,000 layoffs. Dorsey mentioned in a memo that the layoffs are due to the company's growth far exceeding the growth of its business and revenue. The company did not confirm the specific scale of this week's layoffs but affirmed that its overall goal remains unchanged and will be gradually achieved through performance adjustments and other restructuring measures. Block's subsidiaries include Square Inc., Cash App, and Tidal, as well as the Bitcoin-focused division TBD.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, Avalanche developer Ava Labs conducted a large-scale layoff on Monday, affecting multiple teams including communications and marketing. Garrison Yang, Ava Labs' Vice President of Growth and Strategy, stated on Twitter Monday afternoon that the layoffs impacted many people, particularly employees in the company's marketing department.It is still unclear whether the layoffs on Monday affected the company's technical team, but reports indicate that the layoffs were widespread, leaving many employees surprised in the current brutal cryptocurrency bear market. On social media, a former member of the Ava gaming marketing team expressed that he believes the layoffs on Monday are part of a broader restructuring strategy for the company.Previous news reported that the NFT market OpenSea also underwent a similar restructuring, confirming a reduction of about 50% of its workforce.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Polkadot ecosystem development organization Parity Technologies denied the rumors of "laying off about 300 employees," stating that it seeks to transfer some existing marketing functions to several decentralized teams within the Polkadot ecosystem, which will affect the company's staffing in the coming months.Parity stated that it is shifting its focus to providing the next-generation technology for Polkadot, aimed at improving the developer experience and nurturing the developer community. Therefore, it will eliminate some existing marketing functions.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk citing former employees of Prime Trust, the cryptocurrency custody company Prime Trust has recently been ordered to cease operations, and the company may undergo large-scale layoffs, with the layoff rate potentially reaching 75%.Previously, a court in Nevada ordered Prime Trust to stop all activities due to insufficient customer funds and allegations that the company used customer funds to meet withdrawal requests.

ChainCatcher news, Solana ecosystem game metaverse Star Atlas development studio ATMTA revealed that it will undergo a major restructuring to cope with the challenging market environment. The company's CEO stated, "ATMTA is undergoing significant layoffs to maintain its long-term ability to develop Star Atlas, prioritizing our SAGE and mobile products, which may show better results in a shorter time, while extending the development time of our other products."The remaining core team will consist of 45 people, down from a peak of 235 at the end of 2022, and reduced to 167 after the FTX incident. After the restructuring, ATMTA will operate with a more streamlined team.Previously, ChainCatcher reported last November that Star Atlas founder Michael Wagner stated that the Star Atlas development studio ATMTA had significant cash deposit exposure at FTX, and after FTX filed for bankruptcy reorganization, the project's cash runway would be cut in half. Despite the market turmoil, the company still has a "strong balance sheet"; it is preparing for structural reforms within ATMTA to ensure the ongoing viability of the Star Atlas vision.Additionally, the crypto data platform RootData shows that Star Atlas investors include institutions such as Bixin Ventures, Sino Global Capital, and Animoca Brands.

ChainCatcher news, Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran cited media Protos in a tweet stating that for the 1,000 employees laid off, Binance did not notify them or their managers, but rather they were immediately terminated. Some were told to sign NDAs for a small compensation, while others received nothing.Adam Cochran stated that the average salary of the laid-off employees was below the U.S. wage, with some as low as $50,000/year, and the lowest salary among the laid-off employees was $10,500/year, paid in BNB, which is the salary for customer support staff in Latin America. While Binance publicly claims to still be hiring, it has already told internal teams to stop hiring and expects more layoffs in the next 3 to 6 months.Additionally, Binance stated in an announcement sent to internal employees, "Due to the current market and regulatory environment leading to reduced profits, we have to cut expenses. Therefore, the following benefits will be immediately discontinued as of June 19: Covid care subsidy, mobile phone subsidy, fitness subsidy, WFH (one-off) expense subsidy, newlywed allowance, child subsidy for children aged 8, and other employee-related benefits (coupons, book reimbursements, etc.), team-building budget adjusted to $35/month."According to Adam Cochran, it was the Protos team that helped to substantiate the documents with sources, allowing these documents to be published in compliance with Canadian and U.S. news source protection laws, and they will have more reporting.Previously reported, according to a source who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Binance has laid off over 1,000 people in recent weeks. Layoffs are ongoing and could lead to Binance reducing its workforce by more than a third. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, stablecoin issuer Circle stated that the company has made a small number of layoffs to maintain a "strong balance sheet."A Circle spokesperson said, "To maintain our strong balance sheet, Circle is doubling down on core business activities and execution. Therefore, we have reduced or terminated investments in non-core businesses and cut operating expenses, which includes a small number of layoffs. Meanwhile, we have identified new areas for investment and will continue to hire talent in key global areas."Circle's Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen revealed earlier this year to The Wall Street Journal that the company plans to increase its workforce by 25% to scale up. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg citing informed sources, SoftBank Group's Vision Fund is preparing to start a new round of layoffs as early as this week, affecting about 13% of its employees, primarily in the United States.It is reported that as of the end of March this year, the fund had approximately 349 employees worldwide, having reduced its workforce by 30% from 500 employees in the previous fiscal year. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, regarding the layoffs at Binance, Binance representatives stated: We regularly review how to best allocate our talent to teams with the appropriate resources. Sometimes, this inevitably leads to the dismissal of some underperforming employees or those who do not fit the culture. But this is not a layoff; it is a reassessment of whether we have the right talent and expertise in key positions, and we will still seek to fill hundreds of vacant positions.We will include a review of certain products and business units to ensure our resources are appropriately allocated to reflect the changing needs of users and regulators. Serving our users remains our top priority, and new user registrations remain strong. (source link)