NYDIG, Bitcoin services company, is feeling the pinch of the ongoing crypto winter and has laid off around 100 people. Sources revealed that the firm cut about 30% of staff in the past several weeks. Bitcoin has been making layoffs for several weeks now.
A former NYDIG employee described the situation as a trading desk mentality where nobody talks to anyone. One can just disappear and nobody will know for months. The firm raised $1 billion in funding in late 2021 to build an institutional-grade Bitcoin platform. NYDIG wanted to connect to banks and credit unions via the platform’s “Bitcoin for all” campaign. It was working towards bringing unprecedented Bitcoin access to large swaths of retail banking customers.
However, there hasn’t been much progress since the crypto market slump with Bitcoin seeing a 70% decline from its November 2021 highs of $67,500 to the lows of $19,000 per coin. A former employee of NYDIG said the firm put all its eggs in its ambitious banking strategy. But it realized that there was no way the banks were ready. As such, NYDIG blew through all this money telling a story that would bring Bitcoin to the masses. The employee pointed out that the firm’s core strategy was blundered.
Moreover, NYDIG has undergone leadership shuffles. It announced that CEO Robert Gutmann and President Yan Zhao would be stepping down and returning to their parent company – Stone Ridge Holdings Group.
