Bitwise has cut about 14% of its workforce, reducing headcount from roughly 180 employees to around 155, the company confirmed by email after Bloomberg reported the move on Aug. 12. Based on those two rounded figures, the reduction amounts to about 25 positions.
Bitwise did not disclose which departments were affected, what severance terms were offered, or what follow-up organizational changes may come next. Chief executive Hunter Horsley said the post-cut team is still the largest in the company’s eight-year history and said he expects the firm to keep growing as crypto assets become more integrated into the global economy. Even so, the current staffing and product footprint are clearly being tightened.
Bitwise has not given a specific reason for this round of layoffs
Other crypto companies have also reduced staff this year. Coinbase cut about 700 jobs in May, equal to 14% of its global workforce, citing market volatility, cost controls, and organizational restructuring tied to AI. On-chain data platform Dune cut 25% of staff in the same month, and its CEO also referred to AI-related efficiency. BitGo cut 15% in June and said it was concentrating resources on security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI infrastructure.
Bitwise, however, has not disclosed a specific reason for its own layoffs and has not attributed them to AI. It is also unclear whether the workforce reduction maps directly onto product changes taking place at the same time.
Disclosed client assets fell from more than $15 billion to $11 billion
Before the staffing cuts, Bitwise had already shown a notable change in the client asset figures it disclosed publicly. In a product announcement released on Feb. 3, the firm said client assets exceeded $15 billion. In another announcement published on May 1, it said client assets stood at $11 billion as of April 1. Using Bitwise’s own figures, that leaves a book-value difference of at least $4 billion.
The company did not say how much of that change came from crypto price moves, fund subscriptions and redemptions, or shifts in reporting scope.
Client asset figures move with both market prices and capital flows. Rising or falling token prices change asset values, subscriptions and redemptions change managed balances, and product launches or closures can alter what is included in the tally. With only two point-in-time disclosures, there is no way to isolate the contribution of each factor. Because Bitwise did not provide that breakdown, the decline of at least $4 billion cannot be treated as net redemptions.
Bitwise’s business spans ETFs, private funds, separately managed accounts, staking, and on-chain investment products. Fee schedules and billing bases differ across those lines, and the company has not disclosed how the asset mix changed between the two reporting dates. What is clear is that the asset base Bitwise used in those disclosures narrowed materially, putting pressure on fee-generating assets in its asset-management business.
Eight ETF liquidations were decided within about three months
Product retrenchment followed close behind. On April 30, the board of Bitwise Funds Trust decided to liquidate the Bitwise Web3 ETF and the Bitwise Trendwise BTC/ETH and Treasuries Rotation Strategy ETF. Both funds stopped trading and completed liquidation in May.
Then on June 30, the board decided to liquidate six more options-income ETFs. Their underlying exposures were tied to Coinbase, MARA, Strategy, GameStop, Circle, and Ethereum. Those funds stopped trading in August and distributed liquidation proceeds.
That brought the total to eight ETF exits in roughly three months.
The first two products covered different strategies: one focused on Web3-themed equities, and the other rotated among Bitcoin, Ethereum, and U.S. Treasuries. The later six sought income through options linked to single stocks or Ethereum. Despite the strategy differences, they all required ongoing trading, compliance, valuation, and disclosure support. Liquidation reduces the number of products that need to be maintained, though the revenue effect still depends on each fund’s assets and fee rate before closure.
New products kept coming as older ones were shut down
Even while those eight ETFs were being wound down, Bitwise kept adding products in other areas. In April, the firm launched an Avalanche ETP in Europe with an internal staking arrangement. In May, the Hyperliquid ETF went live. In June, Bitwise took over Superstate’s Crypto Carry Fund, which had more than $267 million in assets, giving the firm an entry into tokenized fund management.
Those products also create custody, staking, compliance, and distribution needs. A shift in product direction does not automatically mean a lower operating burden across the firm. What it does show is that Bitwise is still willing to commit resources to new segments, even as layoffs and product expansion appear side by side.
A smaller team will be managing a broad product lineup
In a June 30 announcement, Bitwise said it had 70 investment products, served more than 5,500 private wealth teams, registered investment advisers, and family offices, and worked with more than 20 banks and broker-dealers.
That product count implies a continuing workload across compliance, custody, trading support, disclosures, and client service. With headcount down from about 180 to about 155, the mix of products left in the lineup will shape how much complexity the remaining team still has to manage.
Viewed together, the product changes point to a specific pattern in Bitwise’s lineup. The funds being removed include a Web3 thematic product and options-income strategies built around single-name exposures, while resources are still being directed toward products that track underlying crypto assets more directly, include staking yield, or move fund interests onto blockchain rails through tokenization.
Bitwise has not said which roles, if any, were tied to the product changes, and it has not disclosed any one-time costs related to the layoffs.