Amid rumors of possible insolvency, the Huobi crypto exchange plans to lay off 20% of its workforce, an official confirmed to Reuters.
On January 6, Huobi stated:
The planned layoff ratio is about 20%, but it is not implemented now. With the current state of the bear market, a very lean team will be maintained going forward. The personnel optimization aims to implement the brand strategy, optimize the structure, improve efficiency and return to the top three.
Related: Huobi rebrands to expand globally
The statement comes a week after the independent journalist, Colin Wu, posted on Twitter:
Since January 4, Justin Sun, the founder of Tron and member of its advisory board, has been fighting rumors that the exchange is insolvent. He rose against the rumor spread by Colin, who said that Houbi has started paying employees with cryptocurrencies, USDT and USDC, and not with fiat. According to Wu, those who resist may be fired immediately, and some protests among employees are underway.
Related: Justin Sun admits to buying Huobi
An internal email from Huobi, translated into English and obtained by The Block, stated that all domestic salaries at the company will be paid in USDT, and employees will be required to register a Huobi account to receive their salary. The email also suggested that year-end bonuses and other benefits, including welfare subsidies, have been canceled. However, a spokesperson for Huobi stated that it is incorrect to claim that bonuses and benefits have been cut.
This led to a drop in the Huobi token HT, which is currently trading at $4.18. Yesterday, when the news spread, it was still at $5.20. Tron token TRX was affected as well, and lost 7.56% in the last 24 hours.
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