The cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, which holds fifth place in the ranking of cryptocurrency exchanges, has shut down its division in Shenzhen, laying off all its employees. Huobi's Shenzhen division was created in October 2016 to explore innovative business directions. In particular, the Huobi subsidiary was working on a tokenized educational project. The latter, however, failed. The Chinese source Odaily reports that initially more than 20 employees worked in the Shenzhen division. Over time the number of workers was reduced to 14, and then all of them were laid off. The source does not name the reasons for this decision.

One of Huobi's employees told the Chinese publication that workers who did not pass the six-month probationary period would not receive their wages. Huobi's director of public relations, Shi Wei, confirmed the information about staff cuts at the company. She noted that only the least effective employees would be dismissed. At the same time, she did not name the exact number of workers planned to be laid off.

On the other hand, another Chinese source, Caijing, denies the rumors about the dismissal of all employees of the Shenzhen division. The publication notes that the company being liquidated duplicated the functions of other Huobi divisions. Thus, the workers were simply offered to join the company's main structures. At the same time, all employees will be paid in accordance with the law.

According to one of Huobi's former employees, the wave of layoffs at the company began in November 2018. By the end of December of the same year, the company's staff had shrunk by about a third.

It is worth noting that staff cuts at cryptocurrency companies are becoming a global trend. Similar "optimizations" are taking place at Bitmain, Steemit, and the Ethereum startups ConsenSys and Status.