Digital asset tax startup Koinly has pruned its staff strength by 14% ahead of the incoming tax season. The firm was forced to lay off 16 full-time employees in a move that has left the remaining staff bewildered.
Robin Singh, Koinly’s founder and CEO, noted that the grim decision was a direct result of the extended bear market that has caused a streak of layoffs and hiring freezes. Since the first quarter of the year, digital asset prices have tumbled to new lows, leaving the market capitalization of the industry below the $1 trillion mark.
“We are taking measures to ensure we’re as lean as possible as we make our way through the crypto winter. While change is an unavoidable part of business, it’s been a sad week at Koinly as we have had to let go of several of our colleagues,” Singh said.
Singh announced the decision to trim the number of employees via Slack amid a proposed plan to restructure the entire operation of the startup. The message hinted that the firm’s London office would be shut down, but Signh claimed it had nothing to do with layoffs.
Koinly’s spokesperson noted that the decision to shut down the London office resulted from an internal poll that revealed that an overwhelming majority of employees opted to work from home. However, insider information countered the opinion of the spokesperson, noting that staffers preferred working from the office.
Sources claim that the staff laid off by the company is even higher than publicly revealed because of the remote nature of work.
“It is hard to know how many people have been let go over the past week/months as there has never been any communication either before or after,” said a source. “You only find out that someone has been fired when you go to message them and their [Slack] is no longer active or if someone else tells you.”
It was supposed to be such a good year
Regardless of the fall in virtual currency prices, Koinly was expected to have a good year, given the massive amounts of capital losses suffered by traders as they prepare to file their taxes.
However, the firm revealed in a statement that a “lack of awareness” makes traders not report digital assets on their tax returns. Koinly claimed that there is general ignorance in the space that filing losses on tax returns offer benefits in the long run because the losses will be used to offset future gains.
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