Crypto bank Anchorage Digital cuts 20% of staff citing regulatory uncertainty

Crypto bank Anchorage Digital announced it would be letting go of 75 employees, representing approximately 20% of its workforce, citing regulatory uncertainty in the United States as a factor in its decision.

In a March 14 statement labeled the layoffs as “a strategic realignment to better focus our resources,” and pointed to “broad macroeconomic challenges, and crypto market volatility” as other factors contributing to its shift in strategy.

It said the market conditions had boosted demand for its product and client assets under custody “are at an all-time high,” but added:

“These same macroeconomic, market, and regulatory dynamics are creating headwinds for our business and the crypto industry.”

Anchorage — which became the first U.S.-based crypto firm to be granted a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2021 — expressed continued confidence in the digital asset landscape and its ability to build “regulated solutions for digital asset holders.”

The layoffs come at a time when the banking system in the U.S. is in a state of disarray after three regional banks went under in just one week.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank have all gone under since March 8, prompting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to take the extraordinary step of guaranteeing all customer deposits in excess of the standard $250,000 it normally guarantees for SVB and Signature.

@federalreserve @USTreasury @FDICgov issue statement on actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system, ensuring depositors’ savings remain safe: https://t.co/YISeTdFPrO

— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) March 12, 2023

It’s unclear if the recent developments regarding SVB, Signature, and Silvergate contributed to Anchorage’s decision to cut staff.

Anchorage did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Layoffs within the crypto industry have considerably slowed since the beginning of the year after the nearly 3,000 positions cut by crypto firms such as crypto exchanges Coinbase and crypto.com in January were followed by a more muted 570 layoffs for February.