OKX to Increase Staff by 30% Despite Market Downturn

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At a time when many crypto exchanges are announcing hiring freezes and layoffs, crypto exchange OKX plans to increase its headcount by 30%, according to Lennix Lai, the platform's director of financial markets.

The Seychelles-based company believes a staff of 5,000 would be the right number, Lai said Monday on CoinDesk's TV "First Mover" program.

The cryptocurrency platform now is “mostly focused on increasing our headcount on product and tech,” he said. “We are gradually becoming a lot more internationalized.”

Read more: Coinbase Lays Off Around 1,100 Employees

Plans to grow for the exchange come amid a crypto winter that has wreaked havoc on the cryptocurrency and equity markets, prompting exchanges, such as Coinbase, Crypto.com, BlockFi, Gemini and Rain Financial, to cut jobs.

Nonetheless, some exchanges are moving in the opposite direction. Fidelity Digital Assets, for example, plans to double its staff.

Lai said that OKX is hiring because of “a lot of bottleneck” requiring the platform to expand.

As for remote work, he said the company offers employees “a lot of flexibility and freedom to pick where they work,” although OKX likes the idea of employees working from the office.

Read more: Fidelity Digital Assets Plans to Double Staff This Year: Report

“We still encourage our employees to actually come to the office, have a meeting or have tea and have a real-time discussion with the team,” Lai said.