Anonymous former Ignite employees, the company behind the Cosmos project (formerly Tendermint), told CoinDesk about a staff reduction of more than 50%.
According to sources, the move was made amid negative developments in the cryptocurrency market.
Some top executives reportedly left the company alongside CEO Peng Zhong, who announced his departure on July 1 after seven years with Ignite. He had held the post of chief executive since May 2020.
Other employees left in exchange for severance pay, sources say. According to them, the founder Do Kwon announced the possibility of layoffs in May after his return.
Founded in 2014 as Tendermint rebranded to Ignite in February 2022. Kwon left the company in 2020 to launch the Virgo project, and two years later regained ownership of the brand for a new initiative.
Coinbase, BlockFi, Crypto.com, BitMEX, Robinhood, Gemini, Bitpanda, Bitso, Banxa and Abra also announced staff optimizations.
Huobi, Bybit and the regulated Hong Kong bitcoin exchange OSL.
Binance chief Changpeng Zhao, by contrast, said that the crypto winter is a suitable time to expand the workforce. Plans to grow the team were also announced by Bitget, Bitfinex, Tether and Ripple.
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