By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 15th, 2024
SuperRare is not the only company in the industry reducing its staff. In 2022, a number of industry players cut their workforce due to crypto winter conditions. As of January 5, 2023, as many as 26,964 crypto jobs have been lost.
SuperRare, non-fungible token (NFT) market for aspiring digital artists and fine-art collectors, has announced reducing its staff by as much as 30%. As the company has explained, such a decision would help the startup to continue its service to the artist and collector communities.
SuperRare Cutting Down the Number of Its Staff
When SuperRare started back in 2018, the NFT industry was in its infancy. Then, it saw a boom due to a bull market run. As a result, there was a need for more people involved in SuperRare’s service, and the company was overhiring. Now, over-hiring is starting to affect its day-to-day operations.
SuperRare CEO John Crain commented:
“During the recent bull run, we grew in tandem with the market. In recent months, it’s become clear that this aggressive growth was unsustainable: We overhired, and I take full ownership of this mistake.”
He further added:
“To correct course, we’ve made the difficult decision to rightsize our team, ensuring that SuperRare Labs will be able to continue serving our community of artists, collectors and curators while remaining the destination for the best cryptoart in the world.”
The news was shared on Crain’s Twitter:
I have some tough news to share: pic.twitter.com/iLDKqgyhQa
— SuperRare John 💎 (@SuperRareJohn) January 6, 2023
SuperRare is an NFT marketplace that focuses on fine art NFTs, meaning it selects who gets to mint NFTs on its site and ensures each NFT is truly one of a kind. The idea behind SuperRare is the belief that collecting is inherently social so collectors and artists should be able to easily interact around their shared passion. Its concept of “social collecting” bridges the gap between real-world art galleries and NFT platforms, making NFTs accessible to more traditional art buyers.
A Year of Crypto Layoffs
Notably, SuperRare marketplace is not the only company in the industry reducing its staff. In 2022, a number of industry players cut their workforce due to crypto winter conditions. For example, crypto exchange Kraken cut 30% of its staff, an estimated 1,100 people, just a few months after announcing its expansion. Crypto exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) also laid off 60 employees in response to worsening market conditions. Further, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) cut more than 11,000 jobs, which is equal to 13% of its workforce. The executives of Web3 gaming studio Mythical Games announced a 10% cut in its workforce or an estimated 32 individuals. Lemon Capital shed 38% of its workforce, while Unchained Capital let 638 people go (amounting to 38%). Dapper Labs, BitMEX, and Galaxy Digital laid off some employees as well.
As of January 5, 2023, as many as 26,964 crypto jobs have been lost, based on media reports and press releases. The reasons for such a measure included the drop in crypto prices and continuing crypto winter, the FTX debacle, an implosion of a number of crypto platforms, as well as higher interest rates that dissuade investors from purchasing risky investments.