Argentine stock exchange Buenbit lays off 45% of its staff due to recession in technology sector

Argentine stock exchange Buenbit lays off 45% of its staff due to recession in technology sector

The company will focus on its current operations in Argentina, Mexico and Peru and put the brakes on plans to expand into other countries.

Argentina-based cryptocurrency exchange Buenbit has laid off 45% of its staff, the company told CoinDesk on Monday.

According to the company, the team now consists of 100 employees in its offices in Argentina, Mexico and Peru. The company declined to provide details on the number of layoffs, but estimates are that a 45% cut would mean the layoff of about 80 employees.

Read this article in Spanish.

Buenbit CEO Federico Ogue explained in a Twitter thread on Monday that the decision was made due to the "global restructuring of the tech industry." He added that the job reduction plan, which the company has been working on for months, has nothing to do with the recent implosion of UST and Luna. Buenbit had 400,000 customers as of last July.

Ogue said Buenbit will now focus exclusively on its existing operations in Argentina, Mexico and Peru and suspend its expansion plans (Ogue told CoinDesk in 2021 that Buenbit was considering starting operations in Colombia and Brazil). He also said they will work to "maintain a self-sustaining and efficient structure."

Last July, Buenbit raised $11 million in an A round led by Libertus Capital, with participation from Galaxy Digital, FJ Labs and Amaiya Management.

In March, the company added the option for users to buy UST and said they could earn a return of up to 18% by wagering.

The company originally planned to raise capital within a year of its A-series, Ogue said last year, and was considering acquisitions to accelerate its growth.

Matias Nisenson, a venture capital investor at Buenbit, said Monday on Twitter that startups like Buenbit that may have had plans to raise more capital to continue growing are facing a changing macro environment and investors who are more risk averse.

According to Nisenson, Buenbit had two options. The first is, "I stay as I am, and I pray that someone gives me capital to continue to support my structure. This option carries a great risk that I will collapse and have to lay off 100% of my team."

The second option, Nisenson said, is "I do what I need to do to make my company sustainable without outside capital, even if that means laying off 50% of my team today. Any experienced executive will choose option B, which is the lesser of two evils, no matter how much it hurts."

This article was translated by Marina Lammertyn.