Binance CEO Sets Sights On Industry's Next Bull Run, Plans To Expand Workforce

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance BNB/USD plans to increase its workforce by 15%-30% in 2023, according to its CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao.

He made the announcement at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, highlighting the company's aim to be well-organized ahead of the next crypto bull run, CNBC reported.

Several other cryptocurrency exchanges have had to lay off their workforce in the range of 20%-30% to sustain the bleak market in 2022, which wiped off nearly $1.4 trillion from the market and many digital currencies, including Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD, losing more than 60% of their values.

Rival exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN announced on Jan. 10 it would lay off around 950 employees, or about 20% of its workforce, due to the downward trend in the crypto market and the broader macroeconomy.

Zhao acknowledged Binance itself is "not super efficient," but stated it will continue to build and aim to ramp up again before the next bull market.

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The industry was plagued by collapses of major projects, liquidity issues, bankruptcies and the high-profile failure of crypto exchange FTX FTT/USD last year.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with eight criminal counts by U.S. prosecutors, including fraud, and has pleaded not guilty.

Binance initially offered to buy the exchange's non-U.S. businesses but later backed out of the deal, leading to a sudden drop in the value of FTX’s native token FTT.

Zhao said publicly that his company was selling its holdings in FTT, which added to the downward spiral of the digital coin, exacerbating the collapse of FTX.

However, Zhao stated to CNBC the actual damage from the collapse of FTX on the crypto industry was not that high, and FTX "is not a big player, they just make a lot of noise."

He added, "There's definitely damage, but the industry will be fine."

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Photo: Iryna Budanova via Shutterstock