Crypto.com cuts 12% of staff

Crypto.com, a Singapore-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange, has cut about 12% of its global workforce – or roughly 180 employees – the firm said.

This is the firm’s third layoffs after previously cutting staff in 2022 by about 5% and made a further 20% reduction in 2023, following the collapse of crypto company FTX.

The growth and customer relationship management (CRM) teams were hardest hit.

More than half of a 20-person Singapore team were let go, while one employee said she found out about the news after being locked out of Slack.

An internal email to affected staff members said the cuts were part of a reorganization.

A company spokesperson said the reductions align with efforts to integrate enterprise AI and prioritize resources around key growth areas.

Crypto.com reported it had more than 100 million registered users in 2024 and listed global headcount as over 1,500 on its website before the layoffs.

🔗 Source: The Straits Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Crypto.com’s AI push follows a year of buildout

Work on AI has been underway for more than a year.
Its research team released a report on AI agents in September 2024, then shipped an AI software development kit (SDK) for developers 1.
The company later rolled out an AI “skill” that lets automated agents connect straight to its exchange Application Programming Interface (API) 2.
In November 2025, Crypto.com partnered with CoincidenceAI (a service that builds automated trading agents) 3.
A company spokesperson tied the layoffs to plans to add enterprise AI and concentrate resources on main growth areas.

Layoffs track the shift toward regulated crypto infrastructure

The cuts land during a wave of regulatory change that is reshaping how exchanges operate.
In 2025, Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation took full effect, while stricter anti-money laundering rules (AMLR) plus resilience requirements moved closer, including DORA, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act 4.
Other markets also moved ahead, with the U.S. and Hong Kong advancing stablecoin rules that support more formal compliance programs 4.
That pressure can shift budgets away from broad user growth toward stronger compliance teams and sturdier systems.
The reductions fit an industry moving past speculative expansion toward regulated platforms built for automated, sophisticated trading.