Argentina’s Lemon Cash Crypto Exchange Fires 38 Percent Staff Amid Ongoing Slump

The ongoing downturn in the crypto industry has lashed the business flowing out of several companies. Lemon Cash, an Argentina-based crypto exchange has joined the list of several other companies to announce lay-offs in order to keep their businesses afloat in the market turmoil. A total of 38 percent staff of the crypto exchange, making for around a hundred employees. The company has blamed the lack of a clear recovery horizon in the digital assets and venture capital markets.

Lemon Cash has offices in Argentina as well as Brazil. As per its CEO Marcelo Cavazzoli, losses have been recorded in both of the regions.

“We do not know when the venture capital market will recover, and even less so for a company in a hyper growth stage between a Series A and a Series C,” a CoinDesk report quoted Cavazzoli as saying.

Around two weeks ago, the FTX crypto exchange collapsed due to liquidity crunch, and ended up declaring bankruptcy.

In the market movements that followed, over $200 billion (roughly Rs. 16,30,024 crore) were wiped off from the market, leaving the global crypto valuation currently at $828 billion (roughly Rs. 67,48,832 crore).

A bunch of other crypto firms have also had to let go off their workforces.

In May, Buenbit laid off 45 percent of its staff, some 80 employees, due to what the crypto exchange called the “global overhaul” in the tech industry. Bitso, another exchange, also laid off 80 employees in May.

For now, Lemon Cash CEO said, the company is comfortable financially after having raised $16.3 million (roughly Rs. 130 crore) in a Series A funding round led by British fund Kingsway Capital and bringing its valuation close to $45 million (roughly Rs. 365 crore) last year.

“We're not dependent on more investment for the next few years. If the market recovers sooner, great, but it's not something we'll run after,” Cavazzoli said.

A significant chunk of the capital was used by Lemon Cash for its expansion in Brazil. The company plans to mark its presence in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay.

Meanwhile, other firms that announced layoffs to accommodate the volatility factor in the crypto sector in recent months include BitOasis, Vauld, OpenSea, and Genesis among others.