Crypto news: Ledger, the well-known hardware wallet manufacturer, has announced a 12% reduction in its workforce, attributing it to broad economic challenges.
Available information indicates that the company had about 734 employees at the time of the announcement, suggesting that about 88 people may have been affected by the layoff decision.
See below for all the details.
Summary
Latest decisions of crypto wallet hardware maker Ledger
As anticipated, Ledger CEO and president Pascal Gauthier said the company will proceed with a 12% reduction in its staff.
In a blog post on 5 October, Gauthier explained that this decision was made to ensure the long-term sustainability of the business, considering the difficult economic environment of 2022 and the problems experienced by companies such as FTX and Voyager Digital.
Based on data on LinkedIn, it appears that Ledger could count on about 734 employees at the time of the announcement, implying that about 88 people may have lost their jobs.
Gauthier pointed out the following in this regard:
“Current macroeconomic challenges are limiting our ability to generate revenue, and as a result, in response to current market conditions and business needs, we have made the difficult decision to reduce headcount by 12% across all business divisions.”
This announcement came seven months after Ledger made a fundraising round of more than $109 million, which valued the company at $1.4 billion.
In August, Ledger also integrated its Live software with PayPal, allowing users in the United States with verified accounts on the payment app to buy crypto.
Not just Ledger, changes at Binance.US amid regulatory challenges
Unfortunately, besides the well-known hardware wallet maker Ledger, many other companies in the cryptocurrency industry have also announced similar staff cuts due to market uncertainty and changes in US regulations.
In September, for example, Binance.US President and CEO Brian Shroder left the company following a reduction of about 100 employees. Similarly, Nansen, Coinbase, Huobi, and Crypto.com have announced layoff plans for 2023.
Notably, a spokesperson for Binance.US later confirmed the recent layoffs and the departure of Shroder. This move is part of the company’s plan to focus entirely on cryptocurrency operations, with the goal of solidifying its position as a cryptocurrency-only exchange.
The spokesperson also pointed to the impact of the Securities and Exchange Commission‘s (SEC) aggressive regulatory actions on their business and jobs in the United States, calling it an “unfortunate example.”
Norman Reed, Chief Legal Officer, has been appointed as interim CEO to replace Shroder. We emphasize that Shroder’s departure comes at a time when Binance.US has been the subject of several legal and regulatory actions in recent months.
In fact, earlier this year, both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance, Binance.US, and co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, alleging that the exchange was operating illegally, selling unregistered securities, violating commodity laws, and mismanaging customer funds.
In June, Binance.US temporarily suspended dollar deposits and informed customers that it would pause fiat withdrawals while it was involved in a legal dispute with the SEC.
Subsequently, Binance.US became an exchange dedicated exclusively to cryptocurrencies for a period of two months. However, it reinstated USD ramp channels in August following a partnership with MoonPay.
Evernode: major progress on Xahau, the gateway to smart contracts on XRPL
Recently, Evernode, the Layer-2 smart contract application based on XRP Ledger (XRPL), shared an important update on its upcoming launch.
In a recent tweet, Evernode anticipated a possible next step on its path to release.
This development is related to the code check of Xahau, the proposed sidechain for XRPL that will host smart contracts. According to Richard AH, CTO of XRPL Labs, the code for Xahau has been successfully completed.
Xahau Ledger is a proposed sidechain dedicated to smart contracts in the XRPL ecosystem. Collaboration between XRPL Labs, Evernode, Alloy Networks and others led to the launch of the Xahau white paper last August, followed by active development ahead of the official launch.
One of the recent developments was the update of the Xahau Testnet by Wietse Wind, an XRPL Labs developer, with new features, including the “UNL Report” that allows UNL nodes to monitor the proper functioning of other nodes.
The launch of Xahau is crucial for Evernode, as the latter’s success is closely tied to Xahau’s existence. In the tweet, Evernode indicated that a component of its code, called “3 hook,” could be audited as soon as the b2m code is verified, indicating that the launch is now imminent.
The “Burn2Mint” (B2M) mechanism introduced by Xahau will enable the porting of Xahau’s native token, Xahau XRP, from XRPL.
Following the launch of Evernode, an airdrop is planned for XRP holders, with a generous amount of Evers, the protocol’s native currency, reserved for this initiative. Users will be able to request the airdrop based on the XRP balance held on XRPL, as recorded in the 1 September snapshot.
