Foundry, the world’s biggest Bitcoin mining pool, recently laid off about 60% of its employees – that’s a huge cut from over 250 people down to around 80-90. This affects both US and international staff.
Why the Layoffs?
According to sources, this is a “strategic move” to focus on Foundry’s most profitable areas. The goal is to boost revenue from its core mining operations, aiming for $80 million in self-mining revenue by 2024. Foundry’s statement confirms this, emphasizing their commitment to running the top Bitcoin mining pool and expanding their site operations.
What Remains?
Despite the layoffs, important parts of Foundry are still running. Their massive Bitcoin mining pool (handling 30% of the network’s hashrate) is still going strong. The teams managing the pool, firmware, and self-mining are also unaffected. However, the ASIC repair and hardware teams were let go.
The Bigger Picture: Genesis and Beyond
These layoffs come after a rough patch for Foundry and its parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG). The collapse of DCG’s subsidiary, Genesis, caused ripples throughout the company. Foundry had branched out into other areas like custom hardware and AI, but it seems they’re pulling back to concentrate on what works best. They even moved about 20 employees to a new DCG AI startup called Yuma.
Foundry, founded in 2017, was a big player in Bitcoin mining, known for its competitive fees (even offering 0% to large clients). However, they faced challenges, including problems with ASIC-backed loans, impacting their self-mining business.
The Current Crypto Climate
These layoffs reflect the current state of the crypto market. Companies are dealing with regulatory issues and market volatility. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $95,570, relatively stable but still below its all-time high. However, it’s still up significantly over the past month.
