The decline in the price of bitcoin and a number of other crypto assets during June 2022 made the term crypto winter often heard. What is crypto winter?
Reported from a number of sources, the crypto winter is a period in which crypto prices continue to fall for a long time. The decline in prices also occurred in line with the decline in market interest in the industry.
The price of Bitcoin had gone up, recorded at USD 21,000 per chip, and fell back to USD 20,270. But back up to the figure of USD 21,444 per chip, and when this news was made, the price of bitcoin was at USD 21,679.
The Bitcoin price was recorded as its lowest point since December 2020. Not only BTC has decreased, there is also Ethereum which is currently at USD 1,159, and this decline was also experienced by BNB and Cardano.
This decline was followed by layoffs by a number of crypto companies. For example BlockFi, founded by Peter Thiel, announced plans to reduce its workforce by 20%.
There is also Gemini who laid off 10% of its workers. Gemini stated that the crypto industry is going through a contraction phase known as the crypto winter.
Reporting from NPR, Coinbase, a crypto wallet company based in the United States also laid off 19% of its employees. With a total of around 5000 employees, there are around 1,100 people who have been terminated.
Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, stated that there is a possibility of an economic recession so the company must make efficiency. Moreover, according to him, Coinbase is growing too fast.
"It looks like we are going into a recession after more than 10 years of an economic boom. A recession could trigger the next crypto winter and it could last for quite a while," he said.
Crypto winter is the term for the decline in the value of cryptocurrencies over a long period of time. This happened in 2017 and 2018 when the Bitcoin price fell by 80%.
"Although it is difficult to predict the state of the economy or the market, we are always prepared for the worst conditions so that we can operate our business under any conditions," he added.