Goldman Sachs lays off 3,200 staff members, but it still open to crypto hires

Updated: 01 March 2023

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The economic difficulties that struck the fintech industry, and the entire global economy, in general, have put many companies in a difficult position. Major firms such as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others were forced to cut their costs in order to avoid failure, and for all the mentioned ones, as well as many others, that meant turning to staff cuts.

Goldman Sachs is no different, and the leading US bank had to cut up to 3,200 jobs last month, which came as the largest round of layoffs since 2008, when a global financial crisis had put businesses in a similar position.

$2.55 trillion asset manager Goldman Sachs is seeing a strong reason to expand its digital assets team “as appropriate” this year.

— LA𝕏MAN (@Theblockvlog) March 1, 2023

However, Goldman decided to keep its digital assets unit and, in fact, it wants to strengthen its team further by hiring more experts to join it. At the moment, the team consists of around 70 employees. Meanwhile, Goldman’s global head of digital assets, Mathew McDermott, stated that the bank would remain “hugely supportive” of exploring different applications of blockchain technology. The bank will continue to hire new employees for the sector “as appropriate,” despite the cuts in other sectors.

The cuts have allegedly impacted employees from all levels of the company, including Junior, middle, and senior-level executives. This was reported by an unnamed source familiar with the matter, noting that the bank intends to concentrate on its banking units and core trading.

During the recent presentation at the 2023 Investor Day in New York, Goldman Sachs’ CFO, Denis Coleman, stated that a part of the cuts would involve holding off on replacing departing employees. That way, the company can focus on prioritizing strategic hires.

Goldman Sachs’ strategy

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs’ strategies have been brought into question recently. The bank is now reportedly smaller than Morgan Stanley by nearly $40 billion, with many noticing and criticizing its underperformance.

#GoldmanSachs now smaller than #MorganStanley by almost $40B

CEO David Solomon being blamed for underperformance & wrong strategy

Holding 2nd ever Investor day

Targeting returns in mid-teens
May spin off or sell #consumer biz
Remember $GS IPO'd at 4XBook now worth 4 times LESS pic.twitter.com/v9pQ70aOFw

— Susan Li (@SusanLiTV) February 28, 2023

As for the bank’s growing interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, McDermott commented on this last December. At the time, he noted that the company sees opportunities in buying crypto firms, which is why it has been seeking such deals, especially after the collapse of FTX crypto exchange.

While the collapse sent shockwaves through the crypto industry that have led many other businesses to bankruptcy, the negativity has also impacted the prices of such businesses and companies. As a result, it has been the right time for acquisitions, assuming that bigger and more powerful firms assess that the businesses in question do have potential. McDermott noted that Goldman is already doing its due diligence on some of the crypto companies.

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