In the first half of a panicky week in the crypto industry, the news was all focused on what could go wrong with weak businesses.
In the second half, however, the story seems to be shifting toward what businesses with strong fundamentals can do — and what are they doing — to thrive in a weakened market.
While leading cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Crypto.com and BlockFi announced big layoffs at the start of the week, competitors Binance and Kraken went the other way, announcing plans to accelerate hiring.
See also: Super Bowl Curse Comes for Crypto as Layoffs Mount
The outspoken CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, indulged in a bit of fundamentals-focused crowing on June 15 with a Twitter post announcing plans to hire 2,000 new employees.
“It was not easy saying no to Super bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did,” Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said. “Today, we are hiring for 2,000 open positions for #Binance.”
And cross-chain payments-focused blockchain developer Polygon told CoinDesk today (June 16) that it was adding about 50 positions.
Read more: PYMNTS Blockchain Basics Series: What is Polygon? An Ethereum Killer Hedges Its Bets
Walking the Talk
Coinbase, which just announced 1,100 layoffs, spent an estimated $13 million for a 60-second SuperBowl ad. Crypto.com, which is laying off 5% of its workforce, about 260 people, spent a staggering $700 million, on a 20-year naming rights deal for the arena that’s home to the Los Angeles Lakers, among other teams.
It was not easy saying no to Super bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did.
Today, we are hiring for 2000 open positions for #Binance. pic.twitter.com/n24nrUik8O
— CZ ? BNB (@cz_binance) June 15, 2022
Interestingly, both Zhao and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell made many of the same points Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made in the firm’s first-quarter earnings call last month, when he said the firm planned to continue hiring despite dismal results.
“We are highly confident that we could choose profitability over reinvesting in the business,” Armstrong said on May 11. “We believe that investing now is key to our future.” A month later, the top U.S. cryptocurrency exchange announced it was cutting 18% of its staff.
See also: Coinbase May Be Unfazed By 80% Drop, but Investors Are Clearly Shaken
Money to Spend
Binance sees “this moment in time as an opportunity to gain access to some of the industry’s best talent,” Zhao told CoinDesk. “Our business strategy was to position Binance for sustained growth over the next decade through multiple market downturns or even a prolonged multi-year declining market … We are going to have a very active pipeline in the months ahead.”
He added, “cooler markets offer the best opportunity for organizations to invest in or acquire great projects at a more favorable price point,” which led a Twitter commenter to point out that Binance acquired — and expanded — industry-leading crypto-asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap during the last bear market.
“CMC worked out pretty well so far,” Zhao replied, adding an emoji smile to the post.
As for Kraken, a June 15 blog post announced a “global hiring push,” saying that down markets “are fantastic at weeding out the applicants chasing hype from the true believers in our mission” as well as aligning its “internal culture around a set of shared values we feel will keep us agile, focused, and competitive.”
Speaking of its “commitment to a crypto-first culture,” Kraken’s post defined that mission as “bringing financial freedom and inclusion to the billions of people suffering from financial exclusion, hyperinflation, and a broken system … It’s time to think about taking more of your paycheck in bitcoin, because the fundamentals have only improved.”
Of course, it’s worth noting that, unlike Coinbase, neither has shareholders to mollify.
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