Bitcoin exchange and infrastructure provider Blockchain.com is bucking the bear market with a commitment to hire more staff in 2024. Moreover, the company is looking to expand into Europe and emerging markets.
On December 13, Bloomberg reported that Blockchain.com, an early adopter of crypto technology, plans to expand its workforce by 25% in the first quarter of 2024.
The firm, which currently employs around 300 people, is also looking to tap emerging markets in Nigeria and Turkey, it noted.
Blockchain.com slashed around a quarter of its workforce in mid-2022 as the crypto winter deepened. Moreover, it fired 28% of its employees in a second round of terminations in January 2023.
To facilitate its European expansion going forward, the company has hired the former head of global operations at Kraken. Curtis Ting will be tasked with setting up the firm’s new Paris hub and creating local entities across Europe.
Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith said that the firm is seeking more local licenses. Currently, its European operations are managed through a single entity based in London.
Commenting on the brutal bear market that followed several high-profile crypto collapses in 2022, Smith said:
“We’ve seen a lot of shakeout in the market, whether it’s companies retreating from certain local markets or being distracted from regulatory [pressure], or companies going under.”
He added that it has been “an incredible opportunity to take market share.” He also estimated 60-70% less competition right now than there was at the end of 2021.
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In March, the firm decided to shutter its asset management division, Blockchain.com Asset Management (BCAM).
However, in mid-November, the crypto exchange and wallet provider closed a $110 million funding round led by UK-based Kingsway Capital.
On December 14, the firm announced that it was onboarding TRON and Changelly as its first collaborators to integrate the Blockchain.com Pay solution.
Blockchain.com Pay is a mobile payments application tapping into the firm’s liquidity and infrastructure.
The Nigerian Move
Furthermore, the company said it was on a mission to revolutionize decentralized trading in Nigeria in late November.
The firm integrated cross-chain swaps into its decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator. This allows users to trade assets between different Ethereum-based blockchains with fast settlement times.
It touted specific benefits for the Nigerian crypto trading community, including enhanced liquidity, reduced slippage, and a wider variety of crypto assets.
Blockchain.com stated it was committed to empowering Nigerian users with cutting-edge crypto trading tools through integrations like this.
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