On Thursday, it was announced that Crypto.com would be laying off approximately 12% of its entire workforce. In a statement, Crypto.com CEO Chris Marszalek said the areas of the business that will be affected by layoffs are not compatible with the increased use of AI throughout the company. “We are joining the list of companies integrating enterprise-wide AI,” Marszalek said at X. “Companies that don’t make this pivot immediately will fail.”
We’re joining the list of companies integrating enterprise-wide AI. Companies that don’t make this pivot quickly will fail. Companies that move slowly will be left behind. Companies that move quickly and combine the best AI tools with top performers will gain a level…
-Chris | ai.com (@kris) 19 March 2026
Additionally, according to a report from Bloomberg, crypto exchange Gemini announced layoffs of its own, and cuts at the company founded by the Winklevoss Twins have now reached 30% of its workforce since the beginning of the year. Gemini’s chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief legal officer also recently left the company. Additionally, the crypto exchange made an announcement saying that the company will be deploying AI tools in an effort to increase productivity across the enterprise.
In light of its poor stock performance recently, Gemini is also facing a class-action lawsuit from one of its investors who claims the exchange did not properly disclose its pivot in trading focus toward prediction markets. At the time of writing, Gemini’s stock is down 84.72% since it was first listed in September last year.
Other recent examples of crypto companies pointing to AI as the driving force behind layoffs include crypto market data startup Messari and Bitcoin-focused fintech company Block (formerly Square). According to a report from The Block, Messari’s CEO stepped down amid the layoffs, which are part of the company’s restructuring into an “AI-first” business. The block also made headlines late last month as one of the first major tech companies to announce major layoffs as a result of the integration of AI into business processes.
Of course, many critics have wondered whether it is a coincidence that all of these AI-driven layoffs at crypto companies are happening at the same time that the crypto asset market is far from its all-time high. Crypto startups have at times laid off large portions of their respective employees during past crypto bear markets, and some have argued that AI is being used as a scapegoat for a similar phenomenon to occur once again in the crypto industry.
There’s more but companies are too timid about it
– Psychedelic L₿arto (@PsychedelicBart) 19 March 2026
Additionally, a large number of Bitcoin mining companies, such as Cango and Bitdir, are also turning to AI in an effort to grow and diversify their revenue sources. In some cases, mining companies have sold their entire holdings of Bitcoin. Others have left the mining industry altogether to focus on the higher profits available in AI.
That said, a lot of Bitcoin mining companies are diversifying the use of their data centers for additional revenue streams. According to James Cheng, who is CFO at Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Canaan, Bitcoin miners’ collective interest in AI makes sense, as there should be synergy between the two industries in terms of maximizing profitability and stabilizing the energy grid associated with these energy-intensive areas of focus. “Both businesses are in one ecosystem,” Cheng said. “It’s not competing with each other. It’s competing between one and the other.”
Bitcoin’s falling price has undoubtedly harmed the profits previously enjoyed by the mining industry, and the crypto asset has faced heavy criticism from analysts, who have seen the past few months as a sign of Bitcoin’s failure to fulfill its potential as a safe-haven asset at a time of geopolitical uncertainty. However, Bitcoin performed better in reaction to the early stages of the war in Iran than to the rising tensions around Greenland.
This all follows the market dynamics over the past few years in which gold, which occupies a similar position to Bitcoin, has been massively outperforming Bitcoin, with its “digital gold” narrative. The recent decline in Bitcoin’s price in response to the Fed’s perceived aggressiveness has also reinforced this criticism, as it suggests that the crypto asset is still serving as a risk asset in the current environment.
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