Foundry cuts 27% of workforce amid restructuring

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) mining giant Foundry, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), has laid off 27% of its workforce as part of a company-wide restructuring effort.

The layoffs affected 16% of Foundry's U.S.-based employees and included reductions in its India-based team, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This decision aligns with DCG's plan to spin off Foundry's self-mining business into a separate entity while maintaining control over it.

“We recently made the strategic decision to focus Foundry on our core business — operating the #1 Bitcoin mining pool in the world and growing our site operations business,” Foundry explained in a statement to Cointelegraph.

“As part of this realignment, we made the difficult decision to reduce Foundry’s workforce, resulting in layoffs across multiple teams,” the company also acknowledged, highlighting the challenging nature of the layoffs.

Foundry operates Foundry USA, the largest Bitcoin mining pool globally, which controls about one-third of the market share, according to Hashrate Index data.

The self-mining division of Foundry, projected to earn nearly $80 million in sales for 2024, will now operate as a standalone subsidiary under DCG.

“We believe this enterprise will be stronger as a standalone business, and so we are spinning it out as a wholly-owned DCG subsidiary,” DCG's November shareholder letter emphasised in their strategy for the spinoff.

The restructuring comes as Bitcoin miners face increasing costs and challenges due to the network’s April halving, which reduced the block reward by 50%.

Despite the rising difficulties, miners have continued to expand infrastructure, with CoinShares reporting a commitment to future growth in anticipation of higher Bitcoin prices.

Foundry’s restructuring highlights the ongoing adjustments in the mining sector as companies adapt to evolving market conditions.