PORTLAND, Oregon - Chainalysis, a company that specialises in tracking crypto transactions and the entities behind them, said it has made layoffs affecting less than 5 per cent of staff.

The company, whose backers include Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, has about 900 employees following the job cuts, a Chainalysis spokesman said on Wednesday.

The spokesman said the cuts are part of a wider reorganisation, adding that the business is well-capitalised and that it will set up teams under a refocused strategy this year.

Founded in 2014, Chainalysis has gained prominence for collaborating with the United States and other governments on crypto-related probes. This work intensified in the past year following a series of high-profile collapses across the industry, from hedge fund Three Arrows Capital to crypto exchange FTX. The digital asset sector has been hit by a spate of layoffs following last year’s rout in token prices. Thousands of jobs have been lost since the start of 2023 alone.

Chainalysis chief executive officer Michael Gronager said in an interview in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the company was seeking to boost staff by about 11 per cent as part of a global expansion that could include new acquisitions. BLOOMBERG