Crypto lender Genesis laid off 30% of its staff

Massive crypto lender Genesis Global has laid off 30% of its staff and is considering filing for bankruptcy, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the layoffs which is the latest sign of financial turmoil at the crypto lender impacted multiple departments within the company bringing the workforce down to a strength of only 145 employees.

This is the company's second round of employee cuts in the last six months after it laid off 20% of its staff in August 2022.

The crypto firm's lending arm Genesis Global Capital also froze customer withdrawals in November 2022, citing "unprecedented market dislocation" following the collapse of major crypto exchange FTX.

The widespread downturn in the crypto market has seen many crypto exchange companies including Coinbase, BlockFi, Crypto.com and Celsius lay off hundreds of staff members, and others file for bankruptcy in the past year, as they struggle to survive in the wake of the global crypto market's worst meltdown.