Just like crypto companies including Coinbase, Polygon and Protocol Labs, Bitstamp is hunkering down amid mounting regulation and wobbly markets. It recently reduced its headcount by 30%, from around 650 in September to 450 in February.

“It’s not a round of layoffs,” Bitstamp CEO Jean-Baptiste “JB” Graftieaux said. A number of consultants working on licence, strategy, compliance and security finished their projects.

“All of these people completed their engagements [at] the end of last year,” Graftieaux said.

(By Eric Johansson)