Brazil’s Largest Bitcoin Exchange Just Fired ‘at Least’ 20 Employees

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, recently fired “at least” 20 employees amid restructuring efforts being made to “focus on professionalization, better governance and more agility in customer service.”

Local news outlet Portal do Bitcoin reportedly spoke to four now ex-employees that served at different hierarchical levels. One noted it “was horrible” and said that there “were people crying” over the occurrence.

The ex-employees revealed that senior executives started getting laid off earlier this week, on October 15, with other employees being fired by an executive the very next day. The company, justifying what was going on, revealed it was restructuring its marketing and human resources departments.

Those interviewed by the local news outlet claimed the affected departments were shuttered following the layoffs. One said that executives told employees that “it was a company moment, they needed to dry out their structure. In short, they went one step over what was being billed.”