Brisbane crypto exchange Swyftx sacks one in five staff amid fears of a global recession

The business recently announced a $1.5 billion merger but the “sad” cuts saw one employee learn she had lost her job while on her honeymoon.

A Brisbane-based cryptocurrency company has sacked 21 per cent of its workforce with one employee learning she had lost her job while on honeymoon in Hawaii.

The cryptocurrency exchange called Swyftx, which announced a $1.5 billion merger with online share trading platform Superhero in June, told staff on Wednesday that it was making 74 employees redundant.

Co-chief executives of Swyftx, Alex Harper and Ryan Parsons, said they were “deeply saddened” to reduce the company’s workforce.

“As you’re all aware, we are operating in an uncertain business environment, with levels of domestic inflation not seen in over two decades, rising interest rates, highly volatile markets across all asset classes, and the potential for a global recession,” they told staff.

“We started growing our team in a very different world and it’s now prudent to make sure our cost base is compatible with this extended period of economic uncertainty.”

Swyftx founders Angus Goldman and Alex Harper. Picture: Supplied.

Some of the 74 roles impacted included customer support, marketing, engineering and other general fintech roles.

A number of Swyftx’s staff took to LinkedIn to share the “sad” news.

One employee, who worked as a sales manager, revealed she had celebrated her one-year anniversary with the company last week only to find out she had lost her job while on her honeymoon in Hawaii.

“It’s been an incredible year, filled with goal setting, strategy, problem solving, upskilling, mentoring, innovation, networking, and I got a taste for what it is like working for a start-up/scale-up fintech company. Very different to corporate,” she shared on LinkedIn.

“I believe in the Swyftx vision, and look forward to cheering from the sidelines watching the remaining team deliver an unrivalled product and customer experience.”

Another staff member said her job loss had come at an “interesting time”.

“I’m getting married on Saturday followed by a honeymoon. I’m going to take this time to decompress and think about what’s next,” the sponsorship manager wrote on LinkedIn.

The crypto exchange said fears of a potential global recession was part of its reason for making cuts. Picture: iStock

‘Feeling disappointed’

Another employee said it had been “quite the ride'” and leaving was “anything but easy”.

“It’s the first time I’m going through redundancy,” the engineer said.

“A mix of emotions is going through my mind at the moment that is hard to put into words – feeling disappointed, reflective, open-minded and adventurous – all at the same time.”

Surprisingly, in the past week the company has also been recruiting for roles such as a finance manager, cloud engineering manager and implementation specialist on LinkedIn.

The cuts are a big hit to the company, which was founded in 2018 and grew to employ more than 250 people, and come after it sponsored this year’s State of Origin as part of a three-year partnership with the NRL as its exclusive crypto exchange partner.

L to R: Swyftx CEO Ryan Parsons and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo announce a three year partnership between NRL and Swyftx. Picture: Salty Dingo

Tech bloodbath

Swyftx employees are the latest casualties of the battered tech and cryptocurrency sector with brutal rounds of cuts in recent times.

Recently another Brisbane-based business a telecommunications and IT infrastructure company called Megaport revealed that a whopping $1.6 million was spent paying out the 10 per cent of employees who had been made redundant.

An Australian social media start-up called Linktree that was recently valued at $1.78 billion sacked 17 per cent of staff from its global operations, it revealed this month.

Meanwhile another crypto platform Immutable, which was valued at $3.5 billion faced a fierce backlash earlier this month after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Other Australian cryptocurrency platforms have also recently made cuts. Picture: Ozan Kose / AFP

Then there was Australian healthcare start-up Eucalyptus that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction, which fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted let go of 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

The growing list of redundancies also included Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based in corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its workforce redundant blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business.

Originally published as Brisbane crypto exchange Swyftx sacks one in five staff amid fears of a global recession