On Monday, Foundry, the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool, announced significant reductions in its workforce, laying off about 60% of its staff. The decision, confirmed in Blockspace's report, will affect both U.S. and international staff, reducing the company's workforce from more than 250 to about 80-90.
Foundry focuses on core business
Sources familiar with the matter cited by Blockspace said the layoffs are part of a “strategic initiative” aimed at strengthening Foundry's core revenue-generating businesses.
The foundry is expected to generate $80 million in revenue from its self-mining operations by 2024, according to a letter to shareholders from owner conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG). A statement from the Foundry said:
We recently made the strategic decision to focus Foundry on our core business of operating the world's number one Bitcoin mining pool and growing our site operations business, while supporting the development of DCG's newest subsidiary.
Despite the layoffs, key departments remain operational. Foundry's Bitcoin mining pool currently accounts for 30% of the Bitcoin network's total hashrate and continues to be the company's most notable line of business.
Additionally, the company laid off its entire ASIC repair and hardware teams, but its mining pool operations, firmware team, and self-mining division are still intact.
Layoffs following Genesis collapse
The layoffs come in the wake of a period of turmoil at Foundry and its parent company, Digital Currency Group. After the collapse of Genesis, a subsidiary of Barry Silbert's company, Foundry diversified into several business areas, including custom hardware and distributed AI infrastructure.
Last week, the company transferred about 20 staff members to DCG's new Yuma subsidiary. Yuma is a distributed artificial intelligence (AI) startup led by Barry Silbert, who is also acting CEO of DCG and New Business.
Foundry, founded in 2017 as part of the Digital Currency Group conglomerate, previously offered competitive mining pool commission rates, extended 0% commissions to its largest customers, and is a leader in the Bitcoin mining industry. has been considered a central player.
However, the company has faced challenges, including defaults on application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-backed loans, which have contributed to its mining division's struggles.
The recent layoffs mark a critical juncture in Foundry's journey and reflect broader trends in the crypto space as companies grapple with regulatory pressures and market volatility.
The daily chart shows BTC price consolidation. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com
At the time of writing, Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency on the market, is trading at $95,570, having remained below its all-time high of $99,540 for the past 10 days, and has struggled to reach it since then. I haven't been able to reach the million dollar milestone.
Currently, BTC shows no change from yesterday's price. However, over a longer time frame, the cryptocurrency is still registering significant gains, especially on a monthly basis, rising nearly 40%.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
