Coinfloor is the UK’s oldest crypto exchange – launching in late 2013. Following the extensive bearish market and decline in trading volumes, it has decided to cut most of its workforce in an effort to restructure the company. How exactly it’s planning to restructure with virtually no staff left remains to be seen, leading many to believe that this is the final call before Coinfloor finally closes its digital doors.
Obi Nwosu – Coinfloor CEO – has repeatedly said that the company has seen more than $1 billion in trade volume in the past 12 months, but the majority of that was most likely during December 2017. The necessity to cut staff numbers presents a contrasting image, as the future for Coinfloor looks worrying.
Proving its Solvency
Coinfloor clearly feels the need to be provably solvent, and to achieve its goals it releases a new solvency report at the end of every month. This is in an effort to secure investor confidence and prove to the crypto community that it actually holds Bitcoin for custodial clients. Tether has come under serious fire following allegations that it was insolvent and didn’t actually hold the correct amount of USD, but an external report quashed those allegations.
Coinfloor Once Led the Industry
Back in 2013, when Coinfloor opened, it was considered the gold standard for any crypto exchange and quickly became an industry mainstay. Many of its processes pioneered the standards and regulations that jurisdictions and crypto exchanges around the globe now use. If Coinfloor is on its way out the door, it would bring all those standards and regulations into question, as clearly something isn’t working.
Competition Heats up in the UK
Coinfloor is likely feeling the heat from new competitors opening up in the country. Recently, Coinbase launched four GBP trading pairs and the Winklevoss twins are rumored to be looking into UK licenses for a crypto exchange. This new wave of competition could well have damaged Coinfloor’s ability to rake in cash, not to mention its attempt to keep up with the big players by removing all Bitcoin trading fees.
We’re Still Hiring
Over on Obi Nwosu’s Twitter profile, he claims that the company is still hiring. While this is most likely a case of him not updating his personal Twitter account, it highlights that he is out of touch with the company and that there is a lack of due care and attention taking place. The link takes you to a page that says there are no vacancies, but if you’re laying-off staff, remove it from your bio. Staff layoffs don’t happen overnight, there is weeks of planning involved. This is a sloppy move and could hint that the company has made other sloppy mistakes in the buildup to this mass lay-off.
The news about Coinfloor cutting its staff numbers is extremely worrying, but investors should still be able to recover any funds should the worst happen. Hopefully, this is just a temporary blip in the company’s timeline and it will be back on track in the coming months.
