Author: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
Bloomberg reported on August 12 that the crypto asset management company Bitwise has reduced its workforce by approximately 14%. Bitwise subsequently confirmed via email that the number of employees has decreased from about 180 to around 155, which is approximately a reduction of 25 positions based on two estimated groups. The company did not disclose specific departments affected, compensation packages, or follow-up adjustment plans.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated in response that the adjusted team remains the largest in the company's eight-year history and expects the company to continue to grow as crypto assets integrate into the global economy. The company remains optimistic about long-term growth, but the current personnel and product configuration has begun to tighten.
This year, several crypto companies have also been downsizing their teams. Coinbase laid off about 700 people in May, accounting for 14% of its global workforce; the official explanation mentioned market volatility, cost control, and organizational restructuring due to AI; on-chain data platform Dune also laid off 25% of its staff that month, with its CEO similarly mentioning AI efficiency; BitGo laid off 15% of its employees in June, focusing resources on security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI infrastructure. Bitwise has not disclosed the specific reasons for this round of layoffs and has not attributed them to AI. Whether there is any organizational correlation between this reduction and product adjustments remains unconfirmed.
Client Assets Decreased by at Least $4 Billion, Eight ETFs Subsequently Exited
Prior to the personnel adjustments, the client asset figures disclosed by Bitwise had shown a significant change. On February 3, Bitwise announced that client assets exceeded $15 billion; another announcement on May 1 showed that as of April 1, client assets were $11 billion. According to the company's two self-disclosed figures, the difference amounts to at least $4 billion. Bitwise did not explain how much of this change was attributed to fluctuations in coin prices, subscriptions and redemptions, and the scope of statistics.
Client assets are a statistical measure influenced by both market prices and capital flows; changes in coin prices increase or decrease asset market value, client subscriptions and redemptions change managed shares, while new and terminated products may also alter statistical scope; data points at two times cannot separate how much each factor contributed. Bitwise did not disclose relevant sub-items, therefore it cannot equate the decrease of at least $4 billion directly to net client redemptions.
Bitwise's businesses include ETFs, private funds, separately managed accounts, staking, and on-chain investment products, with varying fee structures and billing bases for different products. The company also did not disclose changes in the composition of various assets in the two statistics. The client assets base disclosed by Bitwise has narrowed significantly between the two time points, putting pressure on the scale of assets available for management fees.
The product exits nearly occurred at the same time; on April 30, the Bitwise Funds Trust board decided to liquidate the Bitwise Web3 ETF and the Bitwise Trendwise BTC/ETH and Treasuries Rotation Strategy ETF, both of which ceased trading and completed liquidation in May. On June 30, the board again decided to liquidate six options income ETFs, which are related to Coinbase, MARA, Strategy, GameStop, Circle, and Ethereum; the related funds ceased trading in August and disbursed liquidation payments.
Within about three months, Bitwise concentrated on exiting eight ETFs.
The first two funds covered Web3 thematic stocks and the rotational strategy between Bitcoin, Ethereum, and U.S. Treasury securities, while the latter six relied on individual stocks or Ethereum-related options for income. Despite their different investment logic, all eight products require ongoing trading, compliance, valuation, and information disclosure support. Liquidation can reduce the number of products that need to be maintained, although the income impact still depends on the asset size and fee rate before each fund’s liquidation.
Old Products Exit, New Resources Flow to Staking and Tokenized Funds
During the exit of the eight ETFs, Bitwise continued to increase products in other directions. In April, the company launched an Avalanche ETP with internal staking arrangements in the European market; in May, the Hyperliquid ETF officially went live; in June, the company took over the Crypto Carry Fund of Superstate, which has a scale of over $267 million, entering the field of tokenized fund management.
These new products will also generate demand for custody, staking, compliance, and distribution, and the change in product direction cannot be directly equated to a decrease in overall operational burden. It indicates that the company is still willing to allocate resources for new tracks, allowing layoffs and product expansion to coexist on the same business list.
In its announcement on June 30, Bitwise stated that the company has 70 investment products, serving over 5,500 private wealth management teams, registered investment advisors, and family offices, and collaborating with more than 20 banks and brokerage firms. The number of products means that the company must continuously undertake operational work such as compliance, custody, trading support, information disclosure, and customer service. After reducing the team by about one-seventh, the product structure will directly affect the complexity of the business that the remaining personnel need to maintain.
Observing the centralized liquidation of the eight ETFs alongside the new products, Web3 thematic funds and options income strategies built around individual assets exited, while tokenized products that directly track underlying crypto assets, accompany staking income, and move fund shares on-chain continued to receive investments.
After the personnel reduced from 180 to 155, the remaining products will be managed by a smaller team. Bitwise has not clarified which positions are related to the product adjustments, nor has it disclosed any one-time layoff costs.
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