By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 24th, 2024
Circle is presently focused on expanding its staff. However, it also confirms that its plan to go public is not entirely off the table.
USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has revealed plans to increase its workforce by up to 25% in the current year. The report, which was shared by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), follows its December decision to cancel its initial plans of going public, albeit, via a special purpose acquisition company SPAC merger.
It is worth noting that Circle’s hiring decision is surprising, to say the least. Particularly, considering the global economic situation that has caused the majority of firms to lay off a significant percentage of their staff over the past few months.
Layoffs Picking Up Where It Left in 2022
It is also important to note that the crypto industry represents over 41% of all layoffs that have been carried out so far in 2023. Some of the notable firms that have let go of some of their staff this year include Chainalysis, Polygon, Gemini, Coinbase, Bittrex, Crypto.com, Huobi, Genesis, and many more.
This shows that the impact of the several implosions that happened in 2022 is still being felt across the entire crypto industry.
Meanwhile, the layoffs are not exactly peculiar to the crypto space alone. Over 48,000 individuals were laid off from just four companies: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. This was in January alone.
So, from all indications, it appears that the situation is more a global economic crisis than it is a crypto issue.
Circle to Still Go Public
Circle is presently focused on expanding its workforce. However, it also confirms that its plan to go public is not entirely off the table. According to Jeremy Fox-Geen, Circle’s chief financial officer, the timing is just not right. Green insists that the company will wait for market conditions to improve, before even contemplating anything in that direction again.
By 2022 end, Circle’s staff was made up of 900 employees. So, with its new plans, the stablecoin issuer is expected to add another 135-225 personnel throughout 2023.
Nonetheless, its stablecoin – USDC remains the second-largest stablecoin behind Tether’s (USDT) and boasts a market capitalization of $42 billion.