Bitwise Asset Management confirmed to Bloomberg that it cut about 14% of its workforce, reducing the team from approximately 180 to 155 people, amid the prolonged decline in the cryptocurrency market.
CEO Hunter Horsley said that even after the cuts, the workforce is still the largest in the company's eight-year history, and that he expects continued growth as cryptocurrencies are absorbed into the broader economy.
The manager oversees about US$ 9 billion in client assets across more than 70 products, including bitcoin ETFs, separately managed accounts, private funds, hedge fund strategies and staking. The firm's spot bitcoin ETF holds about US$ 2.3 billion.
Industry in retreat
The cut comes in a sector that has become highly concentrated. Spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States hold about US$ 77.5 billion in net assets, of which BlackRock's IBIT accounts for US$ 47.3 billion and Fidelity's FBTC for US$ 10.9 billion, according to SoSoValue data. Bitwise's fund represents less than 3% of the total.
Bitcoin has fallen by nearly half from the record reached in October 2025, to about US$ 64,000, in a decline that has lasted roughly ten months.
Layoffs in the sector
Bitwise joins a growing list of companies that have trimmed staff. Coinbase cut 14% of its workforce in May, with CEO Brian Armstrong citing the market and the speed at which artificial intelligence changed the way work gets done. Brokerage FalconX laid off about 10% of its staff in early August, with roughly half of its Singapore office let go, and is withdrawing a license application in the city-state to focus on derivatives.
Two exchanges have shut down operations. BitMEX, which invented the perpetual swap in 2016, said last month it will close on September 23 after more than 11 years. BitMart followed days later, ending its nine-year platform and sending its token down.
Shift in retail behavior
The retail investors who once drove the crypto market are migrating to sports betting platforms and AI stocks. CoinGecko's second-quarter report indicated that notional volume on prediction markets rose 48.7% to a record US$ 113.8 billion, while spot volume on the ten largest centralized exchanges fell 27.9% to US$ 1.95 trillion and total crypto market capitalization dropped 12.6%. Barclays analysts called prediction markets 'retail's new shiny toy,' while a Wintermute report, based on JPMorgan data, pointed out that speculative money has been steadily shifting into stocks since late 2024.
Despite the layoffs, Bitwise executives remain optimistic. Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said the market may be at the bottom of the winter and argued that the Coldcard exploit, which drained more than US$ 100 million from self-custody wallets, strengthens the case for holding bitcoin through an ETF.
