KuCoin Refutes Job Cut Rumours, Disclosing to Hire amid Crypto Winter

KuCoin, a global crypto exchange headquartered in Seychelles, has refuted rumours that it intends to lay off employees.

Currently, more than 3,500 employees have been affected by massive job cuts in the crypto market, but it appears that the worst is yet to come. Many other exchanges, including KuCoin, among others, were reportedly identified as planning to downsize their workforce in the recent few weeks ago.

Johnny Lyu, KuCoin CEO, disclosed on Monday that the exchange plans to recruit over 300 employees in the next coming months. The executive commented: "KuCoin has not reduced staff and does not plan to do so. We are one of the few crypto platforms that continue to grow by relying on an effective business strategy, focusing on releasing new products and maintaining a healthy atmosphere in our team."

Lyu mentioned that the firm was doing everything it could to enhance its employees' productivity and motivation while also focusing on expanding compliance and innovation.

The CEO added the total number of the firm's employees recently surpassed 1,000 and the firm currently seeks to hire 300 more. Roles open are from the company's marketing, compliance, and technology teams, the executive said.  

Lyu further stated: "We believe that our bet on growth in times of market turbulence is the only correct decision that helps us maintain a high bar. Any conversations asserting the opposite should be considered untenable."

The Current Downsize Trend

It has been a brutal period for the crypto sector since May this year. Digital tokens have fallen across the board, and at the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin trades below $20,000 per coin.

The ongoing bear market has struck a significant blow to the industry's labour market. Many major firms, including US-based exchanges Gemini, BlockFi, Coinbase, Singapore-based crypto exchange Bybit, Austria-based Bitpanda, and Mexican exchange Bitso, have recently laid off multiple employees. And the wave of cuts appears to be gaining momentum.

However, a few crypto firms have recently said they are still hiring. Mid-last month, San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken announced that it plans to fill an additional 500 roles at the company within this year.

On 15th July, crypto exchange Binance also said it is expanding its hiring currently, with plans to hire over 2000 job positions open from engineers, product, marketing to business development, among others.

Last month, Sam Bankman-Fried-led crypto exchange FTX also disclosed that it is hiring more staff and will still continue doing so.