Fidelity-Backed Crypto Platform Cuts Staff Due to Market Pressure

OSL, a Hong Kong-based digital asset exchange, is cutting roughly a third of its costs following months of turbulence in the crypto market.

That includes staff cuts — though the firm did not reveal how large a portion of its workforce was laid off.

• OSL provides crypto trading and custody services alongside software solutions for institutional clients.
• Hugh Madden, CEO of OSL’s parent company BC Technology Group, specified in a statement on Tuesday that the exchange cut costs due “to current market conditions” which included “headcount reduction,” according to Bloomberg.
• It’s far from the only exchange to take such measures. NFT Marketplace OpenSea dismissed 20% of its staff in July, while Cryptocom laid off an equivalent slice of its workforce just last week.
• Coinbase has undertaken two roughly equivalent layoffs this cycle — once in June, and again earlier this month.
• The so-called “crypto winter” raged throughout the second half of 2022, ushering in plummeting crypto asset prices and multiple high-profile bankruptcies. The collapse of rival exchange FTX in November was the most prominent, whose failure is still sending shockwaves throughout the industry.
• OSL is backed by Fidelity — the asset management giant that has launched numerous products related to Bitcoin and Ethereum investing.
• Last year, Fidelity launched a product to let its clients add Bitcoin to their retirement accounts, comprising up to 20% of their portfolio.

Originally published at https://cryptopotato.com on January 17, 2023.