Crypto Wallet Manufacturer Ledger Lays Off 12% of Staff

Ledger, a French firm building hardware and software for securing crypto assets, is laying off 12% of its staff.

“Macroeconomic headwinds are limiting our ability to generate revenue, and in response to the current market conditions and business realities, we must reduce roles across the global business,” Ledger Chairman and CEO Pascal Gauthier said in a Thursday (Oct. 5) letter to employees posted on the company’s website.

Gauthier said in the letter that the bear market began in early 2022 and that the company must now make decisions for the longevity of the business.

He added that the collapse of FTX, Voyager, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and others have boosted interest in Ledger’s products and services, which offer self-custody of crypto, with security and secured governance, to both the retail and institutional markets.

“Ledger’s been through multiple bear markets and it’s these most difficult days that require focus,” Gauthier said in the letter. “At times we are forced to make unwanted, but necessary decisions. While difficult, bear markets can also be an opportunity to strengthen our business, connections to one another, ways of working, and our resolve.”

This move comes about six months after Ledger announced its Series C extension fundraising round, which Bloomberg reported valued the company at 1.3 billion euros (about $1.4 billion at the time). That was the same valuation it received in June 2021 during a previous round.

Ledger said at the time that it would use the new funding to bring its hardware wallet to more of the hundreds of millions of users of digital assets and blockchain-enabled technology. Those devices store crypto users’ private keys in a secure device, isolating the keys from a computer or smartphone that could be hacked.

When announcing this fundraising round on March 30, Gauthier said: “As you know, 2022 was a trying year for the crypto industry, including the collapse of significant crypto exchanges and shifting macroeconomic conditions. In this tough environment, Ledger has consistently shown strong resilience and growing adoption for the hardware and services parts of our business.”

The company’s announcement of layoffs comes two days after blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis made a 15% reduction in its workforce, saying the move came in response to market conditions.

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