Filecoin Parent Company Protocol Labs Cuts 21% of Staff

Protocol Labs, the company behind decentralized file storage network Filecoin, is laying off 21% of its staff, CEO Juan Benet announced in a blog post on Friday.

Benet cited an “extremely challenging economic downturn,” particularly for companies in the crypto space as the reason behind the cuts, which forced the company to reduce costs to weather the new environment, he said.

“High inflation leading to high interest rates, low investment and tougher markets have rocked companies and industries globally,” he wrote. “The macro winter worsened crypto winter, making it more extreme and potentially longer than our industry expected.”

Procotal Labs will cut 89 roles across several teams, including corporate, member services and network goods, among others. The blog post did not say if layoffs at other companies under the company’s umbrella, including Filecoin, were affected.

The crypto industry continues to be hit hard by layoffs, with almost 29,000 jobs cut since April.