Citing AI, Crypto.com axes 12% of workforce

On X, the company’s CEO Kris Marszalek writes: "We are joining the list of companies integrating enterprise-wide AI. Companies that do not make this pivot immediately will fail. Companies that move slowly will be left behind. Companies that move immediately and pair the best AI tools with top-performers will achieve a level of scale and precision that was previously impossible.

“This is where we must go. As part of this step, we have also made a targeted ~12% workforce reduction of roles that do not adapt in our new world.”

Last month, Marszalek provided an indication of his conviction that AI will be central to his business and society when Crypto.com paid $70 million to buy the ai.com domain for a new autonomous AI agent offering for consumers.

The firm also recently became the latest digital asset firm to receive conditional approval from US regulators for a national trust bank charter.

The decision paves the way for Crypto.com to provide its custodial services - including custody, staking of assets across various blockchains and digital asset protocols, including Cronos, and trade settlement - as a federally regulated institution.

Another fintech, Block, said in February that it was laying off more than 40% of its workforce - 4000 people - after concluding that AI has “changed what it means to build and run a company”.

At the time, Block chief Jack Dorsey predicted others would soon follow: “I don’t think we’re early to this realisation. I think most companies are late. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes. I’d rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively.”