GSR, a leading market maker and liquidity provider in the industry, has laid off less than 10% of its staff during the third quarter of this year.

As reported by The Block, the reason behind the staff layoff is part of the company’s structural plan to ensure the long-term growth of GSR.

Rich Rosenblum, co-founder of GSR, said the company was on the right track last year in July to expand the number of staff from 25 the previous year to 200 people.

GSR was founded by former Goldman Sachs executives in 2013 and is one of the oldest market makers in the cryptocurrency industry. The firm offers services ranging from market making to non-statutory trading and risk management services.

A company representative also stated that after the planned expansion interval, the firm aims to comprehensively improve the efficiency and continuity of the development of its technology and commercial capacity.

In particular, this layoff comes amid extreme market conditions and the exodus that is taking place in the industry. A handful of top executives have been quitting since the bear market.

Last week, Opensea lost a senior manager when the NFT market’s chief financial officer, Brian Roberts, resigned from his post.

However, other firms in the industry have also been seen reducing their staff, with fintech banking platform Truelayer recently announcing its intention to reduce its workforce by 10%.

Additionally, in August, Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx announced that it would reduce its staff strength by 21%. Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini also made its second round of layoffs in July.

Other leading companies in the industry, such as Coinbase, Crypto.com and BlockFithey are also on the list of companies that have laid off staff in the midst of the bear market.

Image source: GSR