Anchorage Digital reportedly cuts 17% of workforce as crypto downturn drags

What happened

Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered US digital asset bank valued at $4.2 billion earlier this year, has reportedly cut 17% of its workforce. Citing people familiar with the matter, The Information reported Friday that CEO Nathan McCauley informed employees of the cuts this week.

Anchorage had about 400 employees globally as of February, according to McCauley's congressional testimony at the time. A 17% reduction would amount to roughly 68 jobs if its headcount remained around that level.

Cointelegraph reached out to a public relations contact representing Anchorage for confirmation but did not receive an immediate response.

Why it matters

Crypto markets have struggled over the past year, which The Information cited as the backdrop for the workforce reduction. Bitcoin briefly recovered above $87,000 on Friday but remains well below its $126,000 peak reached last October.

The layoffs come as Anchorage has expanded its role in the regulated US crypto industry. It became the first crypto company to receive a national trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021 and has since grown into a major crypto custodian.

More recently, Anchorage has expanded into stablecoin issuance, including Tether's new US stablecoin USAT. Tether's announcement identified Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. as USAT's legal issuer.

What the data shows

Tether announced its $100 million strategic equity investment in Anchorage on Feb. 5, expanding an existing relationship. In its investment announcement, Tether identified custody, staking, governance, settlement and stablecoin issuance among Anchorage's services.

USAT entered the market on Jan. 27, according to Tether's launch announcement. Under the launch arrangement, Tether named Cantor Fitzgerald as the reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer.

The announcement listed Bybit, Crypto.com, Kraken, OKX and MoonPay among platforms supporting the first phase of the rollout.

Background

On Sep. 22, previous coverage detailed Anchorage's LayerZero stablecoin infrastructure partnership, announced the day before. Recent expansions include cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure and custody support for tokenized uranium.

What is still unclear

• The February figure covers employees globally, so the calculation represents a possible company-wide reduction rather than a confirmed number of U.S. job losses.
• Applying the reported 17% reduction to that figure would amount to about 68 positions, provided the company's headcount had stayed near the same level.
• Cointelegraph did not receive an immediate response from a public relations contact representing Anchorage.

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