CoinFlex to layoff staff amid dispute: Part of measure to reduce cost up to 60%

CoinFlex has decided to cut staff to reduce costs amidst a dispute with longtime Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver.

As per CoinFlex’s Friday blog, the exchange has decided to reduce staff across “all departments and geographies” to reduce its cost by 50% to 60%.

The remaining staff will focus on product and technology, and the exchange would consider scaling as “volume comes back.”

CEO Mark Lamb claimed that the Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver is responsible for their woes.

As per a tweet made by Mark on Thursday, “Roger Ver owes CoinFLEX $47 Million USDC. We have a written contract with him obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regularly. He has been in default of this agreement and we have served a notice of default.”

CoinFLEX and Ver entered arbitration earlier this month to recover those funds in a Hong Kong court.

However, the verdict is not expected to be declared for another eleven months though.

As an early proponent of cryptocurrencies, Ver gained the nickname “Bitcoin Jesus.” However, he has vehemently refuted the claim that he owes the corporation money.

CoinFlex plans to launch a new liability token called “Recovery Value USD” (rvUSD), which CoinFlex will sell to raise $47 million. It is the exact amount that the exchange needs to resume withdrawals to its customers.

Additionally, the exchange hopes that the buyers of the token would be able to get a highly attractive 20% yearly return.

According to the exchange, “We continue working with lawyers and the significant creditor group on the details around the distribution of the CoinFLEX Composite (inclusive of rvUSD, equity, and FLEX Coin) and expect to have numbers around this next week so that we can put this to a vote from all depositors as soon as possible thereafter.”