India’s digital currency exchange, CoinSwitch, is cutting its workforce by 8% as it explores ways to adapt to current market conditions.
The job cuts primarily affected employees in customer support roles, where the exchange saw redundancy. A total of 44 individuals were affected, and CoinSwitch claims that these employees voluntarily resigned after discussions with management.
A CoinSwitch spokesperson mentioned, “We continuously evaluate our business to stay competitive, prioritizing innovation, value, and service for our customers. To that end, we right-sized our customer support team to align with the present volume of customer queries on our platform.”
The broader digital currency market is facing challenges due to an extended bear market, impacting CoinSwitch’s trading volumes, which have decreased by over 70%, and active user numbers.
Additionally, CoinSwitch has grappled with India’s 30% tax requirement and an additional 1% tax deducted at source (TDS).
The exchange observed a significant decline in customer queries since the beginning of the year. Before making the decision to lay off employees, it explored various options, including reassigning customer support staff to other roles within the exchange.
CoinSwitch Reduces Staff Amid Market Challenges
The affected employees received a four-month severance pay, with CoinSwitch expressing its willingness to rehire them when trading volumes recover.
Despite the exchange’s claim that only support role employees were affected, insiders suggest that the terminations spanned across different teams. Some affected staff mentioned they were not given proper notice for the layoffs, despite receiving severance pay.
One affected individual, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “My access was suddenly taken away without prior notice. Several positions were impacted, including team leads, agents, support staff, senior managers, and quality analysts.”
CoinSwitch Expanding Beyond Digital Currencies
CoinSwitch is planning to expand its services beyond digital currencies. The company’s CEO, Ashish Singhal, revealed that they are in talks with regulators to introduce seven mainstream financial products in the fourth quarter of 2023.
These new offerings will include stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), fixed deposits, and mutual funds, providing a broader range of financial products to their users.
CoinSwitch is not the only Indian exchange facing challenges due to unfavorable economic conditions. CoinDCX, another exchange, has also had to reduce its staff by 12%. In a statement, CoinDCX mentioned that they are using job cuts and automation to improve efficiency and productivity to cope with decreasing trading volumes and reserves.
Important: Please note that this article is only meant to provide information and should not be taken as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other type of advice.
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