BitOasis exchange lays off employees amid market downturn

BitOasis, a digital currency exchange in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region, has become the latest company to surrender to pressure from the market downturn. BitOasis has disclosed laying off about five percent of its employees.

CEO and co-founder Ola Doudin told Reuters that this is equivalent to about nine employees across its offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman.

“Earlier this week, nine employees were made redundant across offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman,” Doudin said.

BitOasis is one of the few recognized exchanges in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Founded in 2015 and serves Arab and English-speaking customers. It offers over 60 digital assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, with its trading exceeding $3 billion in 2021.

The exchange has a license to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility from the Abu Dhabi Global Market and is registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the UAE central bank. It also received a provisional license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in March of this year.

More digital assets firms announcing employee cuts

BitOasis is not the only Middle-East-focused digital currency exchange rocked by the market downturn. Earlier this month, Rain Financial, a Coinbase-backed exchange, also revealed that it would be slashing its headcount due to the market turmoil.

Firms outside the MENA region have also been reducing their headcount in response to constrained profitability in the market. On June 14, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) announced that it was slashing a total of 1,100 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, “to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn.”

The announcement is a change from assurances that its CEO Brian Armstrong gave back in May that it would only slow down hiring and that its financial status was strong enough to weather an extended best market.

The digital currency market has seen several months of price drops, struggling to find a bottom as the macroeconomic environment continues to be unfavorable for risk assets. The capitalization of the market currently sits below $1 trillion.

The market cap of BTC is around $387 billion, and it is changing hands at around $20,000. This is about a 70.5% drop from its all-time high price of $69,000 last November, per data from CryptoRank.

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Blockchain in Middle East & South Asia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSCrXf1Ywc&t=11677s