Candy Digital, a non-fungible token (NFT) platform, is the latest company to let go of a sizeable portion of its workforce in the midst of the current bear market for cryptocurrencies. This comes as the crypto sector as a whole continues to see widespread layoffs.
Candy Digital is an NFT platform founded by entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk and Michael Novogratz, the founder of the US-based crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital.
Sportico, citing “multiple people familiar with the decision,” reported that the platform decided to lay off “a large chunk of its workforce.”
More than one-third of the company’s roughly 100 employees have been cut, the sources said, and have been notified about it on Monday morning.
Matthew Muntner, now former Community Content Manager at Candy Digital, said on Monday that he was a part of this layoff, with many commenters saying they regret to see him leave.
Candy Digital launched last year. On June 1, 2021, a press release announced that,
“Candy Digital is being launched by three titans of their respective industries […]: Michael Rubin, Executive Chairman, Fanatics; Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO, Galaxy Digital; and Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur and Investor.”
Therefore, sports apparel and fan gear store Fanatics became the majority shareholder, while Novogratz and Vaynerchuk became equity partners at the company.
Just a few months later, in October, Candy Digital raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, from SoftBank, Insight Partners, Connect Ventures, Will Ventures, and others, including a number of athletes, active and retired.
This is not the only company in the crypto space to have decided to cut its staff numbers in recent months. Early in November, the major NFT firm Dapper Labs, the creator of the NBA Top Shot marketplace, announced it was laying off 22% of its staff, citing the “macroeconomic environment.”
Also, in early November, there were reports that Novogratz could let go of up to 20% of the Galaxy Digital workforce amid the market downturn.
Compiled by Coinbold
