According to Chinese journalist Colin Wu, otherwise known as "Wu Blockchain", cryptocurrency company Huobi will be laying off over 30 % employees due to a "sharp decline in revenue". The reporter further claims that Huobi's co-founder, Leon Li, is reportedly looking to sell a large stake in the company.
Hard times force Huobi to make layoffs
Colin Wu, a local cryptocurrency and blockchain journalist from China, said, that Huobi "will begin layoffs that may exceed 30 %."
The wave of layoffs is sweeping across the entire cryptocurrency sector, with many companies such as Blockfi, Coinbase, Gemini, Bitso, Buenbit, Rain Financial, Bybit, and 2TM already having to let go. The crypto winter and volatile markets were the main reasons why managers decided to reduce workforce numbers.
Wu said the main reason Huobi is laying off employees is the "sharp drop in revenue after all Chinese users left." However, so far there has been no official announcement of such actions coming from Huobi's official sources.
A company spokesperson only explained to Coindesk reporter Oliver Knight that Huobi is in the process of reviewing the company's needs. “Due to the current market environment, Huobi Global is in the process of reviewing both its recruitment policies and its current workforce to realign them with its operational needs. Redundancies are also a possibility following such a review,” said a Huobi representative.
Colin Wu shared another piece of news when he revealed that Huobi co-founder Leon Li is reportedly trying to sell part of the company. Wu's claim has not been verified, and there has also been no official announcement from Huobi about such actions.
“Huobi founder [Leon] Lin is trying to sell his stake in Huobi. Li Lin currently holds more than 50 % shares,” said Wu on Twitter. “Huobi's second largest shareholder is Sequoia China. Huobi's sales plunged after it banned all Chinese users."
Huobi has seen significant growth over the past 12 months and the stock market is following suit statistician the ninth largest centralized trading platform by trade volume. It offers 577 different digital currencies and has 1027 trading pairs. In the last 24 hours, the exchange recorded $773 million in global trade volume.
Huobi Global is the third largest centralized exchange in terms of assets under management (AUM) with $7.86 billion at the time of writing. Data from Bituniverse, Peckshield, Etherscan, and Chain.info indicate that Huobi holds 160,950 BTC, 2.13 million ETH, and $746.3 million worth of USDT.
You might be interested in: WHERE TO BUY BITCOIN AND CRYPTOMEN