Rain Financial is laying off hundreds of employees in a fresh round of job cuts, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as the ongoing volatility in digital assets takes its toll on one of the Middle East’s largest crypto exchanges.
The company communicated the decision to staff on Thursday morning, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Before this week’s cuts, the firm had about 400 employees, the people said.
Rain also laid off dozens of staff members earlier this year, Bloomberg News has reported. It wasn’t immediately clear exactly how many jobs would be affected in the latest round of cuts.
“The volatility in the industry has been difficult to properly plan for, which has resulted in the unfortunate changes that we have had to make today,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Dallago wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Takeover Interest
Cryptocurrency prices have plummeted this year from the highs reached during late 2021. Industry insiders say the struggles of crypto exchanges may attract takeover interest from more established financial companies.
Before the slump, Rain had been on a hiring spree, tapping a number of former bankers, lawyers and consultants to join its Dubai-based team, as a broader crypto frenzy swept through the financial center of the United Arab Emirates.
The staff cuts were made to reflect the “operational needs and market conditions,” Rain said in a separate statement, without providing the number of people made redundant.
“As a business we have had to adapt our future plans given these difficult market conditions to ensure we can navigate through this downturn,” it said.
Rain’s backers include Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins and Coinbase Ventures. It last raised funds at a $500 million valuation, pledging to use the money to expand in the Middle East and Africa and double its workforce to 800 this year.
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