Binance Slashes Worker Benefits as Profit Falls: WSJ

Binance has stopped offering certain benefits to its employees on June 19 as the company’s profits continue to decline, according to former employees and internal company messages viewed by the Wall Street Journal.

“Considering the current market environment and regulatory climate that has unfortunately led to a decline in profit, we have to be more prudent with our spending,” an internal message stated.

The exchange, the world’s largest, will no longer be offering its workers mobile-phone reimbursement, fitness reimbursements and work-from-home expenses, among other benefits.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance’s CEO, however, told workers in a company meeting on Friday that Binance was still profitable and had not been impacted by the recent lawsuit against it by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to attendees at the meeting that spoke to the Journal. He did say, though, that there could be additional layoffs every three to six months and that he did not know if and when the worker benefits that had been cut would be coming back.

Binance cut more than 1,000 workers in recent weeks amid growing regulatory and legal challenges to it around the world, with the reported potential for more than a third of the company’s previous 8,000 employees to be cut eventually.

Zhao disputed the numbers, saying that the media is all “way off.” He wrote in a tweet that layoffs happen in every company and are part of an effort to “increase talent density.”

“As we prepare for the next major bull cycle, it has become clear that we need to focus on talent density across the organization to ensure we remain nimble and dynamic,” a Binance spokesperson wrote in an email to CoinDesk. “This is not a case of rightsizing, but rather, reevaluating whether we have the right talent and expertise in critical roles. This will include looking at certain products, business units, staff benefits and policies to ensure our resources are allocated properly to reflect the evolving demands of users and regulators.”

UPDATE (July 17, 18:02 UTC): Added comment from Binance.