One-third of Staff Laid Off in Digital Investment Group NYDIG: WSJ

New York-based digital investment group NYDIG laid off nearly a third of its workforce, about 110 people in total, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources with the matter on Thursday.

The layoffs have been conducted for about "a few weeks," according to three people familiar with the matter, with company executives issuing formal notices of layoffs on September 22.

Bitcoin trading and banking firm NYDIG said the layoffs were part of a quest to cut spending and narrow its focus to more promising businesses.

NYDIG is a full-service, vertically integrated Bitcoin-only financial services company.

On October 3, NYDIG announced that CEO Robert Gutman and President Zhao Yan had stepped down, and NYDIG executives Tejas Shah and Nate Conrad took over as CEO and President, respectively.

Retiring Robert Gutman and Zhao Yan will return to Stone Ridge Holdings Group, the parent company of NYDIG.

Stone Ridge was founded in 2012 by current CEO Ross Stevens. In 2017, the founder launched the Bitcoin-driven New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), where he serves as executive chairman.

"The firm's balance sheet is the strongest it's ever been, and now we're investing aggressively into a capital-starved market," said Stevens.

On September 13, Stone Ridge Asset Management, a global asset management firm based in New York, announced plans to liquidate and dissolve its Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As of October 3, New York-based digital investment group NYDIG said it had raised $720 million for its institutional bitcoin fund, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.