Blockchain.com, a cryptocurrency financial services company, will suspend operations of its asset management subsidiary, according to a Bloomberg report published March 9. The service has been around for less than a year and appears to be the latest victim of the crypto winter.
The subsidiary, known as Blockchain.com Asset Management, is based in London. It applied to be struck off the UK companies register on 5 March. The application itself dates from February 15. The company had not yet submitted its first financial statements.
Blockchain.com Asset Management opened in April 2022 in partnership with Altis Partners, which would manage its portfolios using Blockchain.com technology. It promised to offer “regulated crypto investment products for institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals”.
spoon: @blockchain has suspended its asset management division and moved to close the unit exactly 11 months after launch. during that time, the company cut hundreds of jobs and may have seen its valuation fall to a fraction of its former $14 billion size
now on Terminal, soon on the web pic.twitter.com/PhaKP0a6mk
— Emily Nicolle (@emilyjnicolle) March 9, 2023
Founded in 2011, Blockchain.com opened the new subsidiary just after a funding round in which it increased its value from $5.2 billion to $14 billion. Standard Custody & Trust Company was also named a custody partner for the new subsidiary in April. A spokesperson told Bloomberg:
“Blockchain.com Asset Management was launched in April 2022, shortly before macroeconomic conditions rapidly deteriorated. As the crypto winter approaches the one-year mark, we have made the business decision to pause the operation of this institutional product.”
Blockchain.com did not immediately respond to a Cointelegraph investigation.
Related: Crypto companies cut nearly 3,000 jobs in January despite Bitcoin’s rise
Blockchain.com saw several milestones during the crypto winter. It received registration in several countries in the course of 2022. It also signed a custody agreement with Anchorage Bank in June, along with other trading platforms, and partnered with Visa to issue a crypto card in the United States in October.
Nevertheless, according to Bloomberg, the company will lay off 260 employees by 2023. Rumors circulated in February that it was in talks with other crypto companies about selling some of its assets or subsidiaries. A Blockchain.com spokesperson denied those rumors to Cointelegraph.