In brief
- Bitcoin.com only laid off 10% of staff, said the startup’s founder Roger Ver.
- Crypto new sites had previously claimed that 50% of staff had been let go.
- Bitcoin Cash prices have dropped significantly and its halving is due within the next 48 hours.
Persistent rumors that blockchain platform Bitcoin.com has laid off half its staff were quashed today by founder Roger Ver. He told Decrypt that only, approximately, 10% of staff had been let go as a result of the economic crisis.
“Bitcoin.com had 84 people as of April 30 2019 and now we have 76 people in April 2020,” said Ver. “There were some layoffs, but absolutely nothing like what is being reported by the trolls online.”
Recent reports drew on data from Candor, a professional network that tracks hiring freezes and layoffs amid the coronavirus crisis. They suggested that Bitcoin.com had dispensed with up to 50% of its workforce.
News outlet zyCrypto also said it had examined information available on Bitcoin.com's official LinkedIn page, to suggest that “half of the 131 employees are now out of work."
However, the company has let go of its former CEO Stefan Rust.
In a Medium post, Rust said, “I have been in bitcoin since 2013 and that won’t change. I will continue to stay engaged in the ecosystem and work to grow distribution for supply and demand for BCH and SLP. But I have to admit to enjoying the change in pace from 200% 20 hours 6 days a week, to “sheltering at home with my family” — they might disagree ;).”
Ver also told crypto news site Coinspice that Bitcoin.com is to become a “a leaner, more guerrilla team.”
The cuts follow a market crash in the price of Bitcoin Cash and other cryptocurrencies. The price of Bitcoin Cash fell from a high of $488 in February to a low of $140 in March—a 71% drop. Since then the price has recovered up to $240.
The prices are relevant because Bitcoin.com operates mining pools, which make money from mining cryptocurrencies. But Bitcoin Cash miners are about to take a further hit with the upcoming Bitcoin Cash halving—due within the next 48 hours.
This will cut the revenue of Bitcoin Cash miners in half. And that’s when, for miners—and mining pool operators—the pain will really kick in.
The Bitcoin Cash halving is imminent
Bitcoin.com is at the forefront of championing Bitcoin Cash (BCH,) and the cryptocurrency’s halving is due within the next 48 hours.
On Friday, Ver told another crypto news site, Coinspice that Bitcoin.com was to be “a leaner more guerrilla team.”
His announcement followed the departure of the company’s CEO, Stefan Rust, to work on other projects.
Some sites speculated that the impending BCH halving could be the reason for the layoffs, with mining on the network only profitable as long as the prices remain high.
But Ver was adamant that the rumors about mass layoffs were the work of anti-BCH trolls.
“The anti peer to peer cash trolls hate BCH because they are afraid it will undermine their get rich quick ponzi scheme that BTC has been turned into,” he insisted.
“There were some layoffs, but nothing remotely close to what some of the “Bcash” trolls online are saying.”
But whether concerns about the network are justified will soon become clear, when the halving takes place and miners surrender to enter the more profitable Bitcoin network, as has been suggested.