Uphold Cuts 17% of Global Workforce as It Pivots to Enterprise Clients

Uphold has cut 17% of its global workforce, roughly 85 roles across permanent staff and contractors, as weaker retail crypto trading pushes the platform to double down on its enterprise business instead.

The company says demand from banks, fintechs, and broker-dealers for its enterprise services has continued growing even as retail trading activity softened during the recent market downturn, prompting a reallocation of resources rather than a broader retreat. Uphold says it is not closing any offices and will keep serving UK, European, and enterprise customers as normal.

Despite the cuts, the company says it still plans to expand its retail app before the end of 2026, adding US stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed lending, and prediction markets in an attempt to compete more directly with Robinhood and Coinbase. Whether a platform can meaningfully grow a competitive retail product while simultaneously shrinking its retail-facing headcount is the tension worth watching here.

Layoffs across the crypto industry have continued through the first half of 2026 more broadly, as several firms have trimmed staff in response to softer trading volumes and tighter margins during the current downturn, making Uphold’s move part of a wider pattern rather than an isolated event.

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