One of the leading crypto and stock trading platforms based in the United States, Robinhood Markets, has announced another round of layoffs and will let go of 7% of its full-time working staff. This revelation comes at a time when the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain businesses remains unclear in the United States
According to some internal company messages seen by the Wall Street Journal, the new round of layoffs initiated by Robinhood will see around 150 employees leave the platform. This adjustment was being made to “adjust to volumes and to better align team structures,” as per Chief Financial Officer Jason Warnick
Meanwhile, when asked by crypto media outlet CoinTelegraph regarding the accuracy of the WSJ report, Robinhood neither declined nor accepted the layoff rumors, but added:
“We’re ensuring operational excellence in how we work together on an ongoing basis. In some cases, this may mean teams make changes based on volume, workload, org design, and more.”
It is crucial to note that this is the third layoff round initiated by Robinhood in the past year. The 2022 crypto bear market has been quite rough on the platform, and given the recent actions taken by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto firms, it seems that the company is preparing for future uncertainties
As reported earlier by Bitnation, Robinhood announced that it had ceased support for Solana, Cardano, and Polygon after these digital assets were named as securities by the SEC.
However, this layoff announcement comes just a few days after Robinhood acquired a credit card fintech startup based in San Francisco, X1, which offers a no-fee credit card with rewards on each purchase. The acquisition is expected to close by Q3 2023 at a price tag of $95 million paid by the crypto and stock trading platform, which noted that this was an “important move” for the firm as it aims to deepen the bonds that it has made with its existing customers.
“This acquisition will bring us closer towards our goal of serving the entirety of our customers’ critical financial needs. With X1, Robinhood will now be able to offer our customers access to credit,” said Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood.
