Digital Asset Platform Uphold Lays Off 17%, Shifts Focus to Enterprise Business
BlockBeats News, July 28th, digital asset exchange Uphold announced that it will lay off approximately 17% of its global workforce, involving 85 full-time employees and contract workers. The company stated that this adjustment is aimed at redirecting resources to the rapidly growing enterprise service business.
Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin stated that the company has experienced rapid expansion over the past few years, nearly doubling its workforce. The layoffs are a realignment of the business strategy. Despite the current slowdown in cryptocurrency market trading activity, the company remains optimistic about the long-term development of digital assets and blockchain technology.
Uphold, founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York, provides users with cryptocurrency, fiat, stock, and precious metal trading services. In recent years, the company has gradually expanded its enterprise infrastructure business, helping banks, fintech companies, and brokerages access cryptocurrency trading and custody services.
The backdrop for this layoff is the ongoing slump in the cryptocurrency market. By the end of the second quarter of 2026, the global cryptocurrency market cap had dropped to around $2.1 trillion, with a decrease in trading volume. Retail participation has weakened due to high interest rates, geopolitical uncertainties, and outflows from cryptocurrency ETFs.
Uphold stated that the company has not closed its UK operations or other overseas offices, and regional operations continue as usual. In the future, the company plans to further expand its enterprise platform while adding features such as US stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed loans, credit cards, prediction markets, and DeFi yields to its consumer app.
Market observers believe that Uphold's adjustment reflects the cryptocurrency industry's shift from relying on retail trading revenue to competing in institutional services, asset tokenization, and financial infrastructure.
