CoinDesk lays off 45% of editorial staff ahead of sale of company

CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency media platform, laid off 45% of its editorial staff as its parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG), plans to sell the project, according to The Block.

“This was a necessary step to ensure the financial well-being of the business and to set us on the path to closing the sale of CoinDesk Inc,” said Kevin Worth, the head of the company.

The platform was founded in 2013. According to insiders, the layoffs affected about 20 employees.

Management will hold a meeting soon to discuss the situation.

Earlier, the WSJ reported on the planned sale of CoinDesk at a $125 million valuation. The group of investors led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital 6 is in the final stage of negotiations.

In January, reporters said that DCG was considering selling part or all of the media platform, which became part of the holding in 2016 after a purchase for $500,000–$600,000.

The potential deal could ease Digital Currency Group’s difficult position. On May 22, the holding company missed a $630 million payment in compensation to Gemini Earn users.

As noted, employment in the cryptocurrency sector fell by 10% — from 210,000 to 190,000 employees.

The layoffs were announced by Robinhood, Dapper Labs, Polygon, Magic Eden, Protocol Labs, Bittrex, Luno, Blockchain.com, Huobi, Bybit, STEPN, TrueLayer and others.