$4.2B crypto bank Anchorage Digital cuts 17% of workforce: Report

Anchorage Digital has carried out a reduction affecting about 17% of its staff, The Information reported, with CEO Nathan McCauley informing employees this week. The cut follows congressional testimony in February in which McCauley said Anchorage employed roughly 400 people worldwide, implying the layoffs would total on the order of 68 positions if headcount has remained similar. Cointelegraph sought confirmation from Anchorage’s public relations contact but did not receive an immediate response.

The downsizing comes amid a prolonged downturn in crypto markets, a backdrop cited by The Information as a factor in the decision. Bitcoin, for example, briefly traded above $87,000 on Friday but remains far below the roughly $126,000 peak it reached last October, underscoring continued market volatility and pressure across the sector.

Despite the job cuts, Anchorage has been extending its institutional footprint. The firm became the first crypto company to secure a national trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021 and has since operated as a prominent custodian for digital assets. More recently, Anchorage moved into stablecoin issuance, including work connected to Tether’s USAT, and earlier this year received a $100 million strategic investment from Tether.

The juxtaposition of expansion into regulated products and a sizeable workforce reduction illustrates the uneven effects of current market conditions on crypto firms: some lines of business are growing even as overall revenue pressures lead to cost-cutting. Anchorage’s status as a nationally chartered digital asset bank and its ties to major stablecoin activity make its staffing decisions noteworthy for observers of regulated crypto infrastructure.