(Kitco News) - While many crypto firms are announcing layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to trim expenses in order to survive the crypto winter, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is actually looking to expand its operations and hire more staff.
According to a report from CNBC, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) indicated that the exchange is planning a hiring spree in 2023 and intends to increase its staff by between 15% and 30%. This follows a significant year of personnel growth for the firm which saw its headcount increase from 3,000 in 2021 to nearly 8000 by the end of 2022.
The hiring plans are part of the company's attempts to get “well-organized” ahead of the next crypto bull run, according to CZ, who admitted that currently, the exchange is “not super efficient.”
“We will continue to build and hopefully we will ramp up again before the next bull market,” Zhao said.
This announcement from CZ comes as many of the other exchanges in the industry have been reducing their staff count and trimming expenses. This includes a 30% reduction in staff by Kraken in November and announcements from Huobi and Coinbase that they would be laying off 20% of their workforce in 2023. For Coinbase, this is the second round of job cuts in the past year, and they also revealed that they would be shuttering their operations in Japan as part of cost-cutting measures.
Binance can now operate in Sweden
Binance continues to push forward with its efforts to expand as Wednesday brought the news that the exchange’s Swedish arm has been granted approval to manage and trade digital currencies by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
According to the company’s announcement, “Binance Nordics AB has been granted registration as a financial institution for management and trading in virtual currency” by the Swedish FSA after months of engagement with the regulator.
“Our registration in Sweden is the result of many months of diligent, hard work from our team, underpinning our commitment to the Swedish market and our users,” said Richard Teng, Head of Europe and MENA at Binance.
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This development allows Swedish residents to access the various crypto and Web3 services offered by Binance. This includes the ability to deposit and withdraw euros, buy and sell cryptocurrencies with the euro, spot trading, margin trading, staking through Binance Earn, acquiring a Binance Visa Card and the ability to access the Binance NFT marketplace, among other services.
“Our next big task will be the successful migration and launch of local operations, including hiring of local talent, organizing more events and delivering more crypto education in Sweden," said Roy van Krimpen, Binance’s lead in the region.
Sweden is now the seventh EU member state to grant Binance the authority to operate, joining France, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Cyprus and Poland in allowing the exchange to do business within their borders.
