Bitwise Asset Management has cut roughly 14% of its staff, bringing the San Francisco firm to about 155 employees from around 180, the company confirmed to Bloomberg.
Chief executive Hunter Horsley told the outlet the reduction should be viewed over a longer arc. Even after the cuts, he said, Bitwise still has the largest workforce in its eight-year history, and he expects the firm to continue growing as crypto is absorbed into the wider economy.
About $9 billion in assets, but a small share of the ETF market
On its website, Bitwise says it manages about $9 billion in client assets across more than 70 investment products. Those include Bitcoin and other ETFs, separately managed accounts, private funds, hedge fund strategies, and staking products.
The layoffs hit a segment that has become far more concentrated. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold about $77.5 billion in net assets, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT accounts for roughly $47.3 billion of that total, while Fidelity’s FBTC holds another $10.9 billion. Bitwise’s fund has about $2.3 billion, which is less than 3% of the market.
Bitcoin has also been under pressure. The asset is down close to half from the record it set in October 2025 to around $64,000, extending a slump that has now lasted about 10 months.
An industry with fewer jobs
Bitwise is joining a longer list of crypto firms cutting staff. Coinbase reduced its workforce by 14% in May, with CEO Brian Armstrong citing both market conditions and the speed at which AI had changed how the company operates.
Prime broker FalconX cut about 10% of its staff at the start of August. Roughly half of its Singapore office was let go, and the firm is also withdrawing a license application in the city-state so it can focus on derivatives.
Some exchanges are leaving the market altogether
Two exchanges have gone beyond layoffs and decided to shut down. BitMEX, which introduced the perpetual swap in 2016, said last month that it will close on September 23 after more than 11 years in operation.
BitMart followed days later, winding down its nine-year-old platform and sending its token lower.
Retail attention shifts to prediction markets and AI stocks
The retail traders who once helped drive crypto are moving toward sports-betting platforms and AI stocks. CoinGecko’s second-quarter report said notional volume on prediction markets rose 48.7% over the three-month period to a record $113.8 billion.
Over the same span, spot volume across the 10 largest centralized exchanges fell 27.9% to $1.95 trillion, and total crypto market capitalization dropped 12.6%.
Barclays analysts described prediction markets as 「retail’s shiny new toy」. A Wintermute report, drawing on JPMorgan data, said speculative money has been rotating steadily into equities since late 2024.
Bitwise executives still make a bullish case
Despite the layoffs, Bitwise executives have remained positive on crypto’s long-term prospects. Chief investment officer Matt Hougan said on Bloomberg Television this week that the market may be at the bottom of its winter.
He also argued that the Coldcard exploit, which has drained more than $100 million from self-custody wallets, strengthens the case for holding Bitcoin through an ETF instead.