Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States, has cut roughly 17% of its workforce, according to a report from The Information published October 2. CEO Nathan McCauley informed employees of the layoffs this week, citing persistent cost pressures across the digital asset industry. The company has not said which departments were affected.
Based on the roughly 400 employees the firm reported earlier this year, the cut amounts to about 68 jobs. It is the second major reduction in Anchorage’s history: in March 2023 the company laid off 20% of its staff, then attributed the move partly to banks cutting it off from core services during the debanking wave.
A unicorn shrinking in a bear market
The odd part of the story is the timing relative to Anchorage’s balance sheet. In February 2026, stablecoin issuer Tether invested $100 million in the company at a valuation of about $4.2 billion, and Anchorage has been expanding its stablecoin business since then, supporting Tether’s US-regulated USAT token. The layoffs land nine months later, in a market that has gone sideways: bitcoin traded near $84,000 to $85,000 this week, roughly 33% below its October 2025 record near $126,000. Reports attributed the cuts to weak market conditions, with no lost client, regulatory action or failed product named.
That combination, fresh capital and fresh pay cuts, tells you where the stablecoin-custody business sits right now. Custodians earn on flows and assets under management. Flows depend on market activity, and activity depends on prices that have gone nowhere for a year. Fee revenue can fall even when headlines celebrate new funding rounds. Investors who bought at a $4.2 billion entry price in February now wait for that revenue to show up while the company spends less.
The last cycle taught crypto firms a different lesson than this one is teaching. In 2022, layoffs preceded insolvencies at Celsius, Voyager and FTX, and headcount cuts were a symptom of collapse. This time, employment data shows the opposite setup: crypto job postings tripled to more than 1,200 in September, even as applications lagged and several large employers trimmed. Firms are hiring in some departments while firing in others, which is consolidation, not retreat.
Layoffs spread across the sector
Anchorage is not alone. Gemini, Coinbase, analytics firm Dune and asset manager Bitwise have all trimmed headcount this year, BeInCrypto reports, as the industry absorbs a long grind lower after the late-2025 peak. The pattern is slower and more bureaucratic than the panic of 2022: companies that raised a lot of money in 2024 and 2025 are matching costs to revenue that stopped growing.
The hiring data backs that up in both directions. Firms still want compliance, engineering and stablecoin-payments people, and they are shedding other roles at the same time. Anchorage fits that mold: it is a custody and infrastructure company, and infrastructure keeps selling even when token prices slump. Two crypto banks also reached public markets this year, Gemini through a Nasdaq listing and Bullish on the NYSE, and stablecoin infrastructure firm OpenPayd is due to follow by year-end via its SPAC merger. Public status brings quarterly scrutiny that tends to force cost discipline early. Anchorage remains private, but the same pressure shows up through its investors, including Tether, which now holds a stake large enough that burn rates matter to someone besides the founders.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2021 | Federal bank charter granted, a first for a crypto firm |
| March 2023 | 20% of staff laid off amid the debanking crisis |
| February 2026 | Tether invests $100M, valuing the firm at about $4.2B |
| October 2026 | 17% cut, roughly 68 roles, no client action cited |
Stablecoins carry the strategy
Behind the headcount story sits a bet on where the industry’s growth actually is. While spot trading volumes stagnated, stablecoin settlement kept expanding. Visa reported in late September that 17% of stablecoin-linked card volume now comes from business programs, with that volume up nearly 200% year over year. Citi began settling Coinbase stablecoin payments as bank of record in early October, and merchants holding incoming funds at Coinbase can earn a 3.75% annual reward rate. Anchorage’s work with USAT, Tether’s dollar token built for the US GENIUS Act regime, places it on that side of the market.
The stablecoin business also explains why a custodian with a national charter matters at all. The GENIUS Act’s first binding rule took effect September 30, splitting US stablecoin oversight at $10 billion and starting state certification clocks, and it requires regulated custody and disclosure infrastructure that only a handful of firms can supply. Anchorage is one of them. The layoffs trim cost, but the strategy was already set in February: chase the part of crypto that sits closest to banks and regulators rather than to exchanges and memecoins.
That bet carries risks of its own. Stablecoin margins are thin, competition from Circle, PayPal and a queue of bank entrants is strong, and revenue depends on rules still being written in both the US and the EU, where ESMA has proposed extending MiCA limits to custody and transfer of non-compliant tokens, a step that would squeeze holders of unsanctioned tokens out of licensed channels. A custody firm caught between two regulatory regimes can end up serving neither.
Market context colors the timing
The wider market gives the layoffs their backdrop. Ether traded near $2,680 after US spot ether ETFs posted about $118 million in outflows across three sessions, and bitcoin funds took in $102.7 million on October 1 after a $148.7 million withdrawal on the quarter’s final day. Liquidations neared $600 million in a single session last week when bitcoin slipped below $84,000. Volumes like that support custody fees, but thin, range-bound weeks do not, and the year’s pattern has been more of the latter after the spring downturn.
Leveraged derivatives noise adds to the caution. Bitcoin futures open interest stands near $54.5 billion, below the $62.4 billion peak, and the Fear and Greed Index sits at 71, in greed territory, even as prices sit a third below their records. Mixed signals like that historically precede months rather than weeks of consolidation, which is exactly the environment in which infrastructure firms cut costs.
What to watch next
Three markers will show whether this is routine restructuring or something worse. First, whether Anchorage details affected departments and holds its stablecoin roadmap intact. Second, whether any client or asset mandate shifts to competitors such as BitGo, Fireblocks or Coinbase Custody. Third, whether the IPO window that carried Gemini and Bullish to market opens for Anchorage itself; headcount cuts usually trim expenses ahead of just such an attempt, and a filing would convert the $4.2 billion valuation into a public market test.
The company last faced this in 2023, survived, and grew again through the 2024-25 rally. The difference this time is that it carries a unicorn valuation and a shareholder, Tether, that expects the stablecoin business to pay off. Crypto’s bear markets have a way of testing both at once.