Several top CEXs have recently been laying off employees—the layoff rates are between 20-40%, and that’s not low at all.

I chatted with friends at a few exchanges. There are mainly two reasons:
First, they expanded too aggressively before. Especially during a bull market, exchanges generally hire a lot. When entering a bear market, in terms of organizational restructuring, exchanges tend to react one beat late. The fact that layoffs have continued throughout 2026 also shows that the market has moved into the bear phase.
Second, the impact brought by AI. For example, in the past, 5 people would earn 5 people’s wages to get 5 people’s work done. Now, it’s 2 people earning the wages of 2-3 people to do the work of 5 people. Some costs have shifted from humans to AI, but overall, companies are still saving more money—especially when it comes to customer service and junior development, which are easier to replace.
As the spring river warms, the ducks know first—when these top platforms start expanding again, maybe the next bull market will kick off then.
But then, what will the crypto world play with in the next cycle? I’m still thinking it over...