KuCoin CEO Defends Company's Financial Position After Crypto Firm Reportedly Lays Off 30 Percent of Workforce

KuCoin said any layoffs that may have been announced at the company are only part of the ongoing appraisal cycle.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 26 July 2023 13:48 IST

KuCoin CEO Defends Company's Financial Position After Crypto Firm Reportedly Lays Off 30 Percent of Workforce

Photo Credit: Twitter/ KuCoin

KuCoin was launched in September 2017 and it's valued at $10 billion

Highlights

KuCoin is evaluating its staff’s performances
KuCoin CEO has claimed that company’s finances are in order
Chinese reporter Colin Wu had released a tip on company layoffs

KuCoin, one of world's largest crypto exchanges, is reportedly facing internal issues. The company has reportedly laid off around 30 percent of its workforce in recent days, after it tightened its KYC policy that is known to have slashed the traffic on its platform. The news of these internal layoffs at KuCoin have stirred concerns among members of the crypto community, who take these incidences as indicators of the health of the companies involved, as well as of the overall crypto sector.

Johnny Lyu, the CEO of KuCoin, appeared to defend the reported layoffs. The CEO tweeted a clarification noting that the company's finances were not an issue and that hiring and firing employees were part of day-to-day corporate functioning.

“KuCoin is operating smoothly. Our recent H1 2023 report shows strong growth in users and new listings, and our talented team is expanding steadily. The crypto world changes fast. To stay on top, we regularly evaluate our org structure based on employee performance and company development. So, it is not layoffs, and it is all about making the organisation more dynamic and competitive,” Lyu tweeted in a thread.

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1/ I'm aware of some rumors floating around about KuCoin. Let me clarify a few points and share a clear picture of how we're doing.
— Johnny_KuCoin (@lyu_johnny) July 25, 2023

The tip about KuCoin firing staff members was circulated by Colin Wu, a Chinese reporter, who claimed he was informed about the development by KuCoin employees.

SCOOP: Following Binance, cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin will lay off 30% of its workforce. Confirmed by more than three internal employees. KuCoin has nearly 1,000 employees. The main reason is that the strict KYC policy was launched after being sued by the United States, which…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 25, 2023

In his tweet, Wu also mentioned that KuCoin's updated KYC requirements have affected the firm's business.

Back in June, the exchange decided to become more aligned with the global Anti-Money Laundering regulations. To do so, all its existing as well as new users were mandated to complete their KYC documentation to be able to access all its services.

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With these changes in KuCoin's KYC system, the platform said it was looking to increase its self-reliance over security provisions in terms of identifying its users better and reporting suspicious potential criminals timely.

Potentially notorious users of KuCoin may have decreased their engagement with the platform in the wake of these new KYC requirements, affecting the company's business.

Meanwhile, the crypto market itself has been having a bear run for a while. Owing to back-to-back interest rate hikes in the US as well as regularity uncertainty shadowing the global Web3 sector, investors exited in plenty, negatively impacting the digital assets sector.

At this point, Bitcoin is trading at its one-month low value of $29,151 (roughly Rs. 23.8 lakh).

The global crypto sector may see some positive development once India announces some regulatory framework to govern the industry on a global basis under its ongoing G20 presidency, likely by December this year.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, KuCoin, Johnny Lyu, Layoff

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More