French crypto hardware firm LEDGER has announced that plans are in motion to lay off roughly 12% of its 700+ staff, citing an increasingly bearish crypto market, as well what it perceives as 'macroeconomic headwinds' affecting its status as a business entity.
Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier released a letter through the official Ledger blog announcing the lay offs.
"Macroeconomic headwinds are limiting our ability to generate revenue, and in response to the current market conditions and business realities, we must reduce roles across the global business," the executive explained.
Gauthier claims that Ledger's has achieved much throughout the years, highlighting the industry-wide proliferation of its much-touted crypto wallet, while also reiterating the strong, pragmatic approach that the company, according to him, need in order to move forward.
The letter ends in an optimistic note with Gauthier vowing that the firm, through its efforts, would later emerge from its current situation.
"Have we been perfect in all matters? No. We have made mistakes along the way. To fail is part of the process. But I sincerely believe the positive outweighs the negative and that we will come out of this bear market stronger together," Gauthier said.
Ledger is a French company that specializes in providing hardware wallets and security solutions for cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2014 by Eric Larcheveque, Ledger has become one of the leading companies in the cryptocurrency security industry. Earlier in March, it has raised roughly $109 million in a fundraising round which brought its valuation to $1.4 billion. It has also recently expanded its operations and launched its own crypto trading platform it has named Tradelink. The firm was also recently subjected to criticism due to its introduction of Ledger Recovery, with its community voicing privacy concerns over the new service.
Despite these significant inroads in the crypto space, Ledger has not been spared from the effects of the bear market. It is the latest company in the industry to announce a sizable layoff due to the prolonged crypto winter, which the various sectors of the industry has not yet fully recovered from.
Earlier this week, Chainalysis laid off over 15% of its workforce, citing difficult market conditions, while Binance.US saw the exit of its CEO Brian Shroder amidst the axing of 100 employees.
