Crypto company and USDC-issuer Circle intends to increase its headcount by 15% to 25% in 2023, its CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen said. The plan highlights Circle’s desire to continue expanding aggressively despite failing to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger last year.
Circle to Add Up to 225 Employees Despite Tough Market Conditions
Circle plans to grow its workforce by up to 25% in 2023 as the crypto firm clings to its expansion strategy despite dropping plans to go public through a SPAC deal. More specifically, the company expects to increase its headcount this year by 15% to 25%, which translates to 135 to 225 employees, said Circle CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen.
While these figures represent a lower growth rate than in 2022, the move comes amid a difficult period as numerous crypto companies are reducing their workforce to cut costs and stay afloat. Further, multiple high-profile crypto firms have filed for bankruptcy in recent months, falling prey to harsh crypto winds.
“We are growing and investing and we are fortunate to be in a financial position to be able to sustain our investments. We have slowed down growth prudently and are focused on what matters most.”
– said Jeremy Fox-Geen, CFO of Circle.
Circle CFO Reiterates Plans to Go Public in the Future
After doubling its workforce in 2022, Circle announced plans to go public through a merger with a SPAC Concord Acquisition Corp. to gain access to the capital market, improve transparency, and further international expansion. But the two companies agreed to end the deal in December after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raised concerns over the companies’ disclosures, which led to Circle missing the deadline to close the merger.
But Fox-Geen said Circle still plans to go public, though it is unlikely that will happen in 2023. The cryptocurrency firm wants to wait for more favorable market conditions and wait for the contagion impact from TerraUSD and FTX crashes to fade out so that investors can properly reassess the future of digital asset businesses.
The issuer of the USDC stablecoin raised $400 million in a funding round from renowned investors such as BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. The transaction took Circle’s total funding to $1.1 billion.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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