Bitwise said Wednesday that it cut 14% of its staff, or about 25 jobs, bringing total headcount down from 180 to 155. A company spokesperson confirmed to Cointelegraph that the decision was tied to pressure from a downturn in the crypto market.
Chief executive Hunter Horsley told Bloomberg that the layoffs were a “short-term adjustment.” He also said Bitwise has not changed its view that crypto assets will become more deeply integrated into the global economy over time, and that the firm still expects growth ahead.
Bitwise says market weakness drove the cuts
Based on the company’s comments and Bloomberg’s reporting cited in the source material, the staff reduction totaled 14%, equal to roughly 25 people. After the layoffs, Bitwise’s remaining workforce stands at 155.
Bitwise linked the move to revenue and budget pressure created by weaker market conditions. Horsley’s public message focused on duration rather than denial: the firm described the cuts as a near-term adjustment while keeping its long-range outlook intact.
He did not say which departments were affected, and the source material does not identify whether management or engineering roles were included. It does note that Bitwise acquired crypto staking service provider Chorus One in February.
Bitwise joins a broader 2026 layoff cycle in crypto
Bitwise is not alone. The source material says several major crypto companies have announced layoffs or restructuring this year.
- Coinbase: In May, the company cut 14% of staff, or about 700 roles. CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase was removing pure management positions and pushing toward AI-driven “one-person teams.”
- BitGo: In June, the company cut 15% of staff. Co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe described the move as a “one-time adjustment” and said the company would focus on AI and stablecoin-related business.
- Robinhood: The company also laid off staff. CEO Vlad Tenev said the business remained strong.
- Polygon: The source material lists Polygon among companies that have reduced staff this year.
- Pump.fun: The source material lists Pump.fun among companies that have reduced staff this year.
- Ethereum Foundation: The foundation cut 20% of staff and carried out an organizational restructuring.
The source draws a line between this year’s cuts and the layoffs seen during the 2022-2023 bear market. In that earlier period, layoffs were described mainly as a response to broken funding pipelines and collapsing revenue. In 2026, the rationale has more often been framed as strategic realignment, with companies shifting toward AI, stablecoins, staking and leaner staffing models.
Fund performance has added to the pressure
The market backdrop around Bitwise has not been favorable. Since January 2026, shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund, trading as BITW, have fallen by more than 30%, according to the source material. The fund tracks the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, including Bitcoin and Ether.
That decline stands in contrast to Bitcoin’s own trading pattern this year. The input states that Bitcoin has spent most of 2026 oscillating above $60,000 rather than repeating the type of collapse seen in 2022.
The pressure point, as framed in the source, lies in the asset-management model itself. Management fees for exchange-traded funds and crypto funds are linked to assets under management, or AUM. If volatility pushes money out of products, fee income comes under pressure. That, in turn, can affect hiring plans, budgeting and staffing levels.
Three patterns highlighted in this year’s layoffs
The source material points to three broad trends behind the 2026 round of crypto layoffs.
- AI replacing parts of the workforce: Coinbase and BitGo both explicitly tied their restructuring to AI adoption. Functions such as engineering, customer service and compliance review are increasingly being supported by AI tools, reducing demand for some roles, especially pure management layers.
- Business lines are being reshuffled: Stablecoins, staking and tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, are described as newer growth areas. Older business lines are facing tighter scrutiny.
- Efficiency is replacing expansion as the operating norm: The rapid hiring mindset seen during the 2021 bull market has faded. More firms are emphasizing smaller teams and higher output per employee.
By scale, Bitwise’s 14% reduction is close to Coinbase’s 14% and BitGo’s 15%. In the framing provided by the source material, that makes the move look less like an isolated company event and more like part of a repeated pattern across the industry.
What the market will watch next
The source material identifies several items to watch after the layoffs. One is whether changes in BITW’s AUM alter pressure on management-fee income. Another is whether staking services can become a larger revenue pillar after Bitwise’s February acquisition of Chorus One. A third is whether Horsley’s growth view holds if the near-term market remains weak and revenue pressure persists.
For now, Bitwise has made two positions clear at the same time: the company sees current market conditions as weak enough to justify cutting staff, and it still holds to a long-term thesis that crypto assets will become more deeply embedded in the global economy.