Crypto hiring: More layoffs at ATMTA, Dorsey’s Block gains new board member

Beyond layoffs, government agencies in the US and UK are on the prowl for crypto experts

article-image

wan wei/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Reports of layoffs at crypto companies dominated the headlines this week. 

Among them is Blockchain gaming company ATMTA, which cut positions by about 80% compared to its peak in late 2022. 

After laying off 122 employees in the latest round, ATMTA CEO Michael Wagner said in a letter that a core team of 45 people would remain. That team, Wagner said, will focus on building Star Atlas, an upcoming blockchain-based game.

Wagner reiterated that ATMTA was impacted by the FTX collapse, which perhaps spurred the first round of layoffs that began in December. One notable departure was Estefan Vazquez, the former head of growth for Star Atlas.

“We lost approximately $15 million from our treasury with the collapse of FTX, which represented a significant portion of our liquid cash balance. Even with the recovery in January of a sizable portion of those funds, our runway was greatly reduced,” Wagner wrote in his letter.

KuCoin is reportedly laying off about 30% of its workforce of nearly 1,000 employees, crypto journalist Colin Wu reported Tuesday. Wu cited three employees with knowledge of the situation.

When reached for comment following Wu’s report, KuCoin denied the layoff characterization.

In June, KuCoin made know-your-customer verification mandatory, a move that came months after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Seychelles-based company for operating as an unregistered securities and commodities broker-dealer.

Block makes changes to its board

Block, the financial services company behind Cash App, Square and Spiral, appointed Neha Narula to its board of directors on Thursday, according to an SEC filing

Block also increased the size of the number of directors on the board from 11 to 12 with Narula’s appointment. 

Narula was selected for her “valuable experience” in the field of Bitcoin and open-source technology, according to the filing. She has served as the director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since January 2017. 

“Neha’s passion for building intuitive, scaled systems to move money across the Internet efficiently fits into our company’s purpose,” Block CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement

Other notable hirings


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

The retail crowd is engaging with Robinhood both on and off chain, general manager Johann Kerbrat said

article-image

Gurbir Grewal, who has been at the agency almost as long as Gensler has been chair, will depart on Oct. 11, 2024

article-image

The stablecoin’s supply has declined about 50% in the last month, from $660 million to $320 million

article-image

Plus, Sky’s soaring stablecoin and simpler bitcoin staking

article-image

Bitwise took the initial steps for an XRP ETF Wednesday