The CoinSwitch crypto exchange is the latest crypto trading platform in India that cut its workforce amid the prolonged cryptocurrency winter, the local news agency Moneycontrol reported on Aug. 28.
The crypto exchange reportedly laid off 44 employees from its customer support division in August, citing redundancy in roles amid the bear market-triggered lack of customer queries.
“We continuously evaluate our business to stay competitive, prioritizing innovation, value, and service for our customers. To that end, we right-sized our customer support team to align with the present volume of customer queries on our platform,” CoinSwitch said. The firm added that this impacted the roles of 44 members of its support team, who “voluntarily resigned from their roles after a detailed discussion with their managers.”
44 employees account for a significant share — or roughly 8% — of CoinSwitch’s total headcount. According to CoinSwitch’s LinkedIn page, the firm has 519 employees at the time of writing. The firm didn’t immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request to comment.
The news about CoinSwitch’s layoffs came just about a week after another major local exchange, CoinDCX, also cut its staff by 12%. According to LinkedIn, the firm employs 730 people at the time of writing.
“We are making the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by about 12% and some of our incredibly talented team members will be parting ways with the organization,” CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal announced on Aug. 22.
The CoinDCX founders also referred to market challenges, adding that domestic exchanges have also encountered the impact of the 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), which targets local crypto exchanges. They wrote:
“These factors had a significant impact on our volumes and thus revenues. To adapt, we undertook several proactive measures, including direct cost optimization and investment in automation to drive efficiency and productivity.”
According to the announcement, the impacted CoinDCX employees were promised to receive a support package of severance pay equivalent to the full notice period, additional one month of salary, extension of health insurance and other support.
As previously reported, India imposed a 30% tax on crypto gains in 2022, which resulted in a massive exodus of cryptocurrency service providers and a sharp decline in crypto trading activity. The country has also adopted a 1% TDS by crypto exchanges, meaning that exchanges are obliged to pay 1% on all transfers of crypto assets.
Lucy Powell has accused Bridget Phillipson’s team of “throwing mud” and briefing against her in the Labour deputy leadership race in a special episode of Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
With just days to go until the race is decided, Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby spoke to the two leadership rivals about allegations of leaks, questions of party unity and their political vision.
Ms Powell told Electoral Dysfunction that through the course of the contest, she had “never leaked or briefed”.
But she said of negative stories about her in the media: “I think some of these things have also come from my opponent’s team as well. And I think they need calling out.
“We are two strong women standing in this contest. We’ve both got different things to bring to the job. I’m not going to get into the business of smearing and briefing against Bridget.
“Having us airing our dirty washing, throwing mud – both in this campaign or indeed after this if I get elected as deputy leader – that is not the game that I’m in.”
Ms Powell was responding to a “Labour source” who told the New Statesman last week:“Lucy was sacked from cabinet because she couldn’t be trusted not to brief or leak.”
Ms Powell said she had spoken directly to Ms Phillipson about allegations of briefings “a little bit”.
Image: Bridget Phillipson (l) and Lucy Powell (r) spoke to Sky News’ Beth Rigby in a special Electoral Dysfunction double-header. Pics: Reuters
Phillipson denies leaks
But asked separately if her team had briefed against Ms Powell, Ms Phillipson told Rigby: “Not to my knowledge.”
And Ms Phillipson said she had not spoken “directly” to her opponent about the claims of negative briefings, despite Ms Powell saying the pair had talked about it.
“I don’t know if there’s been any discussion between the teams,” she added.
On the race itself, the education secretary said it would be “destabilising” if Ms Powell is elected, as she is no longer in the cabinet.
“I think there is a risk that comes of airing too much disagreement in public at a time when we need to focus on taking the fight to our opponents.
“I know Lucy would reject that, but I think that is for me a key choice that members are facing.”
She added: “It’s about the principle of having that rule outside of government that risks being the problem. I think I’ll be able to get more done in government.”
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But Ms Powell, who was recently sacked by Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Commons, said she could “provide a stronger, more independent voice”.
“The party is withering on the vine at the same time, and people have got big jobs in government to do.
“Politics is moving really, really fast. Government is very, very slow. And I think having a full-time political deputy leader right now is the political injection we need.”
The result of the contest will be announced on Saturday 25 October.
The deputy leader has the potential to be a powerful and influential figure as the link between members and the parliamentary Labour Party, and will have a key role in election campaigns. They can’t be sacked by Sir Keir as they have their own mandate.
The contest was triggered by the resignation of Angela Rayner following a row over her tax affairs. She was also the deputy prime minister but this position was filled by David Lammy in a wider cabinet reshuffle.
HMRC sent nearly 65,000 warning letters to crypto investors last year, more than double the previous year, as the UK steps up efforts to trace undeclared capital gains.