Circle Cuts Workforce, Ends Investment in Non-Core Activities: Report

The stablecoin issuer said it had made a marginal reduction in headcount to focus on core business activities and execution.

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, is the latest crypto firm to lay off a portion of its workforce in what has been a tumultuous year for the digital asset industry.

The firm made a marginal reduction in headcount as part of a reduction in operational expenses and ended investments in non-core activities, CoinDesk reported on Wednesday, citing a spokesperson for Circle.

“To maintain our strong balance sheet, Circle is redoubling its focus on core business activities and execution,” the spokesperson said, adding that the firm had “identified new areas for investment and are continuing to hire in key areas of focus on a global basis.”

The layoffs come despite comments made by Circle’s finance chief Jeremy Fox-Geen to The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. At the time, Fox-Geen said the company expected to increase its 900-employee headcount by 15% to 25% by the end of the year. 

Several crypto firms have announced layoffs this year, including Coinbase, Chainalaysis, Gemini and most recently, Binance, which described the staff cuts as a routine “talent density audit.” 

Last week, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire disclosed that the firm had put its programmable wallets into production beta, describing it as the “first major milestone of Circle’s Web3 services.”

We quietly released the first major milestone of @circle Web3 Services into production beta this week. Circle Programmable Wallets is our new Wallet-as-a-Service developer platform. https://t.co/YmnAc2dsU7

— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) July 6, 2023

The new service would be compatible with multiple blockchains, with initial support for Ethereum, Polygon and Avalanche.