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During the last quarter of 2025, the cryptocurrency industry witnessed businesses shutting down or exiting certain operations.
2026 has just begun, and it has come to light that a popular crypto company has let go of some of its staff.
OKX crypto exchange's institutional business has recently undergone global restructuring, leading to a loss of jobs, CoinDesk reported on Jan. 9.
The exact number of employees who have exited the exchange remains unknown.
One person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk that half of the team got fired.
Another person told the publication that 8-10 employees got laid off, with 3-4 of them exiting of their own volition after the restructure was announced. Around a third of the institutional salesforce left OKX as a result, they added.
A company spokesperson said these weren't "mass layoffs" but didn't offer more clarity on the total number of individuals affected by the restructure at OKX.
The spokesperson told CoinDesk,
"OKX recently completed a review of our institutional business as we continue to scale globally... As part of that process, we are evolving toward a more traditional institutional coverage model, designed to deepen long-term relationships with clients and better support their needs across regions and market cycles."
Founded as Okchain in 2013, the crypto trading exchange was later rebranded to OKX.
It runs operations through regulated entities in the EU via Malta, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia, and select states in the United States.
The crypto company is restructuring to make the best of the licenses secured across jurisdictions around the globe and reorganize its retail and institutional operations, CoinDesk reported.
TheStreet Roundtable reached out to OKX for a comment on the matter and had not received a response by the time of publication. We will update the story if and when the company responds.
Related: Veteran fund manager sends harsh warning on crypto bankruptcy, layoffs
