Bitcoin Mining Startup Compass Slashes Staff By 15% To 'Stay Agile'

Bitcoin mining company Compass is slashing its staff by 15% and reducing the salary of others by up to 50%.

The company said the decision will enable Compass to stay agile and well-positioned in an evolving market, which has been beset by challenges and a recent crash.

Compass said it grew too quickly and that addressing operational, financial, and technology bottlenecks by hiring new people led to the decision to downsize.

Co-founders Thomas Heller and Paul Gosker, who took over as interim CEOs of the company after the resignation of CEO and co-founder Whitney Gibbs last month, said in a prepared statement:

"While we have so many appreciative customers with our service, it is not nearly where it needs to be. As we pursued ambitious scaling and growth goals, we failed to deliver the level of trust and service that made us successful in the first place. Given recent market downturn and anticipated future market conditions, we had to take a hard look at our spend and recalibrate for the future of the business."

Leadership changes were made last week to reorient the company, they added.

Jodie Fisher also resigned as CFO. 

Compass has also addressed an issue with service provider Dynamics Mining to improve transparency, and stop “unfounded rumors” about the health of its business.

Dynamics alleged that Compass did not pay the power bill at its Maine facility, leading to a termination of their contract. Compass denied the allegations.

“We realize that finding a new role in this market will be challenging, and we will provide financial and non-financial assistance to help make this unexpected transition as seamless as possible. The changes we need to make don’t only impact our departing team members. Our senior employees and executive team have taken significant pay cuts of up to 50% as part of this process,” Heller and Gosker added.