Digital Currency Group's Luno cuts 35% of staff

Luno, the crypto exchange owned by Digital Currency Group, reduced its workforce by 35%.

The London-based firm told employees about the layoffs earlier today. Luno had a total headcount of 960, meaning over 330 jobs will be lost as a result of the cuts, CNBC reported earlier. 

DCG has come under increasing pressure over the past year as the crypto downturn intensified amid a turbulent macroeconomic backdrop. The collapse of crypto hedge fund 3AC in June and the failure of FTX in November exacerbated the firm's underperformance. 

"Luno unfortunately hasn’t been immune to this turbulence, which has affected our overall growth and revenue numbers," the company said in a message shared with employees. "While we anticipated a downturn and proactively planned ahead with a business and funding model that can be resilient to some of these factors, the sheer scale and speed of all of this happening, and all at the same time, has put significant strain on our original plan."

The company said that customers and operations would not be impacted. DCG and Luno did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by The Block.

"Given all the sensitivity and misinformation in the market right now, I believe it’s also important to reiterate to everyone that customer funds are safe," the company said.