DCG companies have laid off over 500 employees as contagion spreads

cointelegraph.com:

Hundreds of people have lost their jobs at companies owned by crypto venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG), as the long crypto winter, made colder by the FTX collapse, continues to affect the sector. 

Amid the recent layoffs, London-based cryptocurrency exchange Luno announced on Jan. 25 a reduction of 35% in its workforce, letting go of nearly 330 professionals as a result of turbulence in the tech and crypto industries, which affected the firm’s overall growth and revenue numbers.

Luno was part of DCG’s portfolio, alongside HQ Digital, an asset management subsidiary incubated by DCG since 2020 that managed $3.5 billion in assets as of December 2022. HQ’s operations were shuttered in January 2023, affecting at least 26 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. In a letter to shareholders on Jan. 10, DCG CEO Barry Silbert noted that “while we still believe in the HQ concept and its outstanding leadership team, the current downturn is not conducive for the near-term sustainability of that business.”

Related: Gemini and Genesis’ legal troubles stand to shake up industry further

The current downturn cited by Silbert also affected DCG employees. The company downsized by nearly 13% at the start of the year, cutting 66 jobs. The crypto conglomerate said it was looking to revamp its finances and promote several senior executives as part of a restructuring process. 

Another 115 jobs were axed by DCG’s Genesis subsidiaries. On Jan. 5, Genesis Global Trading announced it was cutting 30% of its team, or 63 employees, less than six months after disclosing plans to trim 20% of its staff, or 52 employees, in August.

Facing liquidity issues after the FTX collapse, Genesis’ lending entities — Genesis Global Holdco, Genesis