Singapore, SINGAPORE – The crypto exchange sphere is being rocked by a series of downsizing. Hong Kong-based crypto exchange OKEx announced in a recently published press release that 58 trading pairs will be removed from its platform.
The delistings are attributed to “weak liquidity and trading volume”. OKEx’s Head of Operations, Andy Cheung, took to twitter to explain the move as “housekeeping.”
As leaders, we are responsible for promoting a robust ecosystem. Listing projects loosely or having 795 trading pairs is simply putting trader interests at risks. Housekeeping is necessary. We need to take action on those underperforming tokens now. https://t.co/5TRivz0ycd
— Andy Cheung OKEx (not giving away OKB) (@AndyC0125) October 27, 2018
Based on the press release, it is worth mentioning that only the “trading pairs with weak liquidity and trading volume” are being delisted and not the tokens themselves. This isn’t a revolutionary move in the industry, exchanges like Binance and Bittrex have also preciously removed low performing trading pairs from their exchange. In another tweet, Cheung touched on the importance of consistent performance to ensure a project’s success.
Getting listed is not final. Maintaining a good performance is the key to success. @OKEx_ , our utmost responsibility is to ensure a robust ecosystem for our projects to grow and the best trading environment for our users to experience.https://t.co/SpHrlMl1CX
— Andy Cheung OKEx (not giving away OKB) (@AndyC0125) October 26, 2018
In another vein, Coinbase has let go of more than 15 people from its customer support, compliance, and fraud departments as reported by Yahoo Finance. The report however does not specify an exact number. One source from Coinbase was quoted in Yahoo Finance as saying:
“People here are pretty upset about it, and so far senior leadership is handling communications poorly.”
It is reported that most of the staff that were let go were remote employees. Despite the layoffs, the company has said that they remain open to employing staff remotely for jobs that are “hard to fill locally to an office.”
The report cited that:
“Among crypto circles, there have been whispers of Coinbase layoffs for a few months now.”
While the number may seem insignificant when taking into account that Coinbase has more than 500 employees, the timing of the layoffs does seem strange as the company has reported a valuation of US$8 billion earlier this month as well as plans to go public.
Do all these point to a more alarming trend in the crypto industry? It is still too early to tell.
