Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of staff as crypto crash continues

Trading platform Robinhood cut about 23 per cent of its staff as the crypto crash persisted and economic outlook dampened.

The company, which enables crypto trading, had previously laid off 9 per cent of its staff to manage costs. The layoffs follow other crypto companies cutting staff as the “crypto winter” causes prices of major cryptocurrencies to drop.

“We have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash,” CEO Vlad Tenev said as he took responsibility for the decision.

“This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.”

Tenev said the company staffed many of its operations as it assumed the increased retail trader interest in crypto and stocks it saw last year would continue post-Covid.

“We will be parting ways with many incredibly talented people today in an extremely challenging macro environment,” he said.

The company’s decision follows major crypto and tech companies like Coinbase and Tesla as they laid off a number of employees due to the downturn in economic conditions and outlook.

The cuts at Robinhood are mainly focused on operations, marketing, and program management functions.