BlockBeats news, on July 28, the digital asset trading platform Uphold announced a reduction of approximately 17% of its global workforce, affecting 85 full-time and contract employees. The company stated that this adjustment aims to reallocate resources toward its rapidly growing enterprise services business.
Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin stated that the company has experienced rapid expansion over the past few years, nearly doubling its workforce, and this round of layoffs is a strategic realignment. Despite a recent slowdown in cryptocurrency market activity, the company remains confident in the long-term potential of digital assets and blockchain technology.
Uphold, founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York, provides users with services for trading cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, stocks, and precious metals. In recent years, the company has gradually expanded into enterprise-grade infrastructure, enabling banks, fintech companies, and brokerages to access cryptocurrency trading and custody services.
This round of layoffs occurs against the backdrop of prolonged weakness in the crypto market. By the end of the second quarter of 2026, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization had declined to approximately $2.1 trillion, with trading volumes falling and retail participation weakening due to high interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and outflows from crypto ETFs.
Uphold stated that the company has not shut down its UK operations or other overseas offices, and all regional operations continue as normal. In the future, the company plans to further expand its enterprise platform while adding features such as U.S. stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed loans, credit cards, prediction markets, and DeFi yields to its consumer app.
Market participants believe that Uphold's adjustment reflects the cryptocurrency industry's shift away from reliance on retail trading revenue toward competition in institutional services, asset tokenization, and financial infrastructure.