Kraken has quietly laid off hundreds of employees over the past few months, affecting multiple core business departments.

This is not the first time, nor is it an isolated case.

The industry signals have completely changed:

• Tightening U.S. regulations (SEC targeting custody and staking services)

• After the launch of ETFs, exchange traffic has shifted to BlackRock and Fidelity

• Severe loss of retail investors, with on-chain active user numbers down over 30% year-on-year

• Overall daily trading volume: from a peak of $240 billion/day in 2021 → now only remains at less than $70 billion

Timeline of layoffs for this crypto giant over the past few years: