Crypto Exchange Huobi Announces Plans To Lay Off 20% of Its Workforce

Huobi, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore, revealed it would lay off around 20% of its entire workforce after weeks of rumors.

“The planned layoff ratio is about 20%, but it is not implemented now. With the current state of the bear market, a very lean team will be maintained going forward,” a Huobi spokesperson said, adding: “The personnel optimization aims to implement the brand strategy, optimize the structure, improve efficiency and return to the top three.”

The news comes almost a week after journalist Colin Wu revealed on Dec. 30 that there had been layoffs at the cryptocurrency exchange. Wu reportedly claimed that Huobi has decided to require wage payments to be made in stablecoins rather than fiat money, prompting employee objections.

All domestic pay will now be paid in USDT, according to a recent internal Huobi email. Employees must “to register a Huobi account to receive salary,” the email adds. It also implies that additional benefits, such as welfare payments, have been terminated along with year-end bonuses.

However, the representative for Huobi indicated that the claim that bonuses and benefits have been reduced is false.

On October 7, Huobi was purchased by the M&A fund of About Capital Management. A few days later, Huobi named Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, as an advisor. There was widespread speculation that he was the real buyer behind the About Capital transaction, although Sun consistently refuted such allegations. Sun presented a strategy to make Huobi once again one of the largest exchanges in the world in late November. A key component of this ambition is the creation of a hub in the Caribbean.

Twitter is already awash with claims that Huobi has shut off internal feedback and contact channels, however, Huobi’s representative has refuted these claims.

The exchange, which is starting a global development strategy, will “fully respect the legitimate demands of local employees, and continue to provide industry-competitive incentives and treatment for outstanding talent.” according to a representative for Huobi.

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