CEO Nathan McCauley informed employees of the reductions during the past week, according to people familiar with the matter. Anchorage has not publicly disclosed the number of affected employees or provided a detailed breakdown of which business units were reduced.
McCauley told the Senate Banking Committee in February 2025 that Anchorage employed about 400 people globally. Applying the reported 17% reduction to that historical figure would imply approximately 68 positions, although Anchorage’s headcount may have changed substantially since that testimony.
The cuts arrive eight months after Tether made a $100 million strategic equity investment in Anchorage Digital that valued the company at $4.2 billion and coincided with an employee tender offer.
Do the Layoffs Point to Pressure on Anchorage’s Core Business?
The reported reduction was linked to the prolonged downturn in digital asset markets, but Anchorage has not publicly released financial results showing how weaker crypto prices have affected revenue, assets under custody or trading activity.
That distinction matters because Anchorage is not primarily a directional crypto investment business. Its institutional model spans custody, staking, settlement, trading infrastructure and stablecoin services, meaning revenues may depend on asset values, client activity and transaction volumes in different ways.
The company has also reduced staff before. McCauley told lawmakers that Anchorage cut roughly 20% of its workforce in 2023, including 70 U.S. employees, after difficulties maintaining banking relationships disrupted parts of its business.
Its regulatory position subsequently strengthened. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency lifted a compliance-related consent order against Anchorage Digital Bank in 2025 after previously identifying deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering framework. FinanceFeeds covered the termination of the OCC enforcement order.
Investor Takeaway
A 17% workforce reduction is material, but it does not by itself establish deterioration in Anchorage’s balance sheet or custody business. The more important indicators would be changes in institutional assets, stablecoin issuance volumes and client activity, none of which have been disclosed alongside the reported cuts.
Why Does the Timing Contrast With Anchorage’s Expansion?
The workforce reduction follows an unusually active period for Anchorage’s institutional business.
Tether selected Anchorage Digital Bank to issue USA₮, its U.S.-focused dollar stablecoin. FinanceFeeds reported in January that USA₮ launched through Anchorage’s federally regulated banking infrastructure, expanding the custodian’s role from storing digital assets into directly supporting stablecoin issuance.
Anchorage then launched stablecoin infrastructure for international banks, combining issuance, redemption, custody, fiat treasury services and blockchain settlement. The offering gives financial institutions a route into tokenized-dollar infrastructure through a federally chartered provider rather than requiring them to assemble those functions across multiple crypto companies.
Its product expansion has continued despite weaker crypto markets. In September, Anchorage added institutional custody for Etherlink and several Tezos-based assets, including stablecoins, liquid staking products and tokenized uranium. It has also expanded staking and custody support across networks including TRON.
Investor Takeaway
The tension is between headcount contraction and product expansion. If Anchorage can continue adding institutional mandates while operating with a smaller cost base, the cuts could improve operating leverage. If staffing reductions constrain compliance, engineering or client coverage, expansion could become harder to execute.
What Does Tether’s $100 Million Investment Change?
Tether’s February investment provides an important counterweight to the layoff story. The transaction valued Anchorage at $4.2 billion and reflected an existing commercial relationship rather than a purely passive financial investment.
The two companies were already working together on USA₮ when the deal was announced. Anchorage also said it did not need the transaction primarily to raise fresh operating capital, instead pairing it with its first employee tender offer to provide liquidity to long-serving staff.
Anchorage has since pushed further into the stablecoin market. FinanceFeeds reported that the company launched stablecoin services for international banks, placing issuance and settlement alongside the custody business that originally defined the company.
That strategy leaves Anchorage exposed to two opposing forces: weaker crypto trading and asset prices can reduce activity across existing businesses, while regulated stablecoins and institutional tokenization can create new revenue streams less dependent on speculative market cycles.
Investor Takeaway
The next question is whether Anchorage’s newer stablecoin and institutional products can generate enough recurring activity to offset cyclical pressure elsewhere. Workforce size matters less than whether the company’s $4.2 billion valuation can ultimately be supported by durable revenue from regulated digital asset infrastructure.
