Anchorage Digital, a cryptocurrency bank, has revealed plans to cut back its workforce by approximately 20%, or 75 employees, due to regulatory uncertainty in the United States financial system.
The company made history in January 2021 by becoming the first cryptocurrency firm in the U.S. to receive national trust bank status from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Anchorage Digital claims that the layoffs are part of a “strategic realignment to better focus resources” amidst macroeconomic, market, and regulatory challenges that are creating headwinds for its business and the broader crypto industry.
While the reasons for these layoffs are not yet clear, it appears that March 2023 is proving to be a challenging time for bankers who work with cryptocurrencies.
Silvergate, Signature, and Silicon Valley have all announced the termination of their crypto-related operations, and according to Bloomberg’s sources, U.S. prosecutors had been investigating Signature Bank’s interactions with clients in the crypto industry prior to its closure.