Digital asset trading platform Uphold has cut 17% of its global workforce, affecting 85 people across permanent staff and contractors, as the company adjusts to a pronounced slowdown in retail crypto trading activity.
CEO Simon McLoughlin framed the reduction as a course correction after a period of rapid expansion.
"We're recalibrating after several years of extraordinary growth, during which we nearly doubled our headcount."
A Pivot Toward Enterprise Clients
Rather than a retreat from the industry, Uphold is presenting the cuts as a reallocation of resources toward its faster-growing enterprise business, which provides the infrastructure banks, fintechs and broker-dealers use to integrate digital asset services. That segment has continued to expand even as retail trading volumes have cooled, according to the company.
McLoughlin said the company's long-term conviction in the asset class hasn't wavered despite the near-term pressure.
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"Despite the current slowdown in crypto trading activity, we've never been more confident in the prospects for digital assets and blockchain technology."
He added that no offices are closing and that all of Uphold's international locations remain fully staffed and operational.
The Broader Market Backdrop
The layoffs land against a difficult stretch for the wider crypto market. Total market capitalization slid to roughly $2.1 trillion by the end of the second quarter, and U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged combined net outflows of $6.9 billion across May and June, though July brought a modest rebound in flows.
That combination of falling valuations and sustained ETF redemptions has weighed on trading revenue across retail-facing platforms, pushing several exchanges to trim costs or restructure around steadier institutional and enterprise revenue streams rather than transaction volume alone.
What Comes Next for Uphold
Despite the cuts, McLoughlin laid out an expansive product roadmap for the remainder of the year. He said that by year end, Uphold's app will offer U.S. stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed lending, credit cards, prediction markets and enhanced DeFi yield opportunities on assets including XRP.
Founded in 2015 and based in New York City, Uphold serves both retail and institutional customers. The company's bet is that broadening into adjacent financial products and doubling down on enterprise infrastructure will insulate it from the cyclical swings in retail trading volume that have driven the current round of cost-cutting.
