Uphold has reduced its global headcount by 17%, laying off approximately 85 employees and contractors, CoinDesk reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The company is redirecting spending towards its enterprise business after almost doubling headcount during what chief executive Simon McLoughlin described as a period of “exceptional growth”.
What supports is selling to partners
Founded in 2015, Uphold operates a multi-asset platform CryptocurrenciesPaper currencies and precious metals. Along with its consumer app, the company is building an institutional business that enables banks, fintechs, and broker-dealers to add digital asset services through a single API.
“We’re recalibrating after several years of exceptional growth,” McLoughlin said, pointing to the enterprise business as a part of the company that is now growing fast enough to justify shifting people and budget toward it.
The strategy reflects growing demand from financial institutions looking to add cryptocurrency trading and custody without creating their own regulated infrastructure. Instead, banks and Brokerage dealers Increasingly rely on API-based, white-label providers to launch digital asset services.
Consumer aspirations remain
The restructuring does not change Uphold’s consumer roadmap. The company still plans to expand its retail app to compete with it Robinhood and Coinbase By adding US stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed lending and prediction markets before the end of 2026.
Layoffs thus reflect a reallocation of investment rather than a retreat from consumer products. While its retail roadmap remains intact, Uphold is directing additional resources toward enterprise infrastructure as it seeks growth through banks, fintechs and broker-dealers.
The strategy leaves Uphold to pursue both sides of the market: consumer distribution through its apps and infrastructure services for financial institutions.
Uphold has reduced its global headcount by 17%, laying off approximately 85 employees and contractors, CoinDesk reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The company is redirecting spending towards its enterprise business after almost doubling headcount during what chief executive Simon McLoughlin described as a period of “exceptional growth”.
What supports is selling to partners
Founded in 2015, Uphold operates a multi-asset platform CryptocurrenciesPaper currencies and precious metals. Along with its consumer app, the company is building an institutional business that enables banks, fintechs, and broker-dealers to add digital asset services through a single API.
“We’re recalibrating after several years of exceptional growth,” McLoughlin said, pointing to the enterprise business as a part of the company that is now growing fast enough to justify shifting people and budget toward it.
The strategy reflects growing demand from financial institutions looking to add cryptocurrency trading and custody without creating their own regulated infrastructure. Instead, banks and Brokerage dealers Increasingly rely on API-based, white-label providers to launch digital asset services.
Consumer aspirations remain
The restructuring does not change Uphold’s consumer roadmap. The company still plans to expand its retail app to compete with it Robinhood and Coinbase By adding US stocks, tokenized securities, asset-backed lending and prediction markets before the end of 2026.
Layoffs thus reflect a reallocation of investment rather than a retreat from consumer products. While its retail roadmap remains intact, Uphold is directing additional resources toward enterprise infrastructure as it seeks growth through banks, fintechs and broker-dealers.
The strategy leaves Uphold to pursue both sides of the market: consumer distribution through its apps and infrastructure services for financial institutions.
