The company behind cryptocurrency project Dash is to reduce its staffing levels in a cost-cutting effort brought on by the “crypto winter.”

Dash Core Group (DCG) CEO Ryan Taylor announced late last month that the firm has decided to lay off four employees across several business areas – eight percent of its staff – to “reduce costs and align them with the available budget.”

As a result, the human resources department will no longer exist, two people will be leaving the strategy section and the business development team will be reduced by one person. The layoffs will come into effect on March 7.

Taylor said

“This was not a decision we took lightly and we’ve been actively finding ways to reduce the budget over the past several months.”

DCG seems to have a total of 49 employees currently, according to information on its website.

The affect of the cryptocurrency bear market over the last year has also seen some of DCG staff taking voluntary salary cuts and losing employee benefits in order to “maintain the company’s financial health” without increasing the overall budget, Taylor said. There has also been a hiring freeze in place for over six months at the firm.

“Our monthly payments for January invoices yielded an average of ~$67 / Dash, which is the lowest price we’ve experienced since ‘crypto winter’ began,” Taylor said. “We remain committed to keeping our proposal requests below 60 percent of the available budget.”

With the staff changes, DCG further announced some operational changes to its business functions. For instance, human resources-related duties be will be shifted primarily to the firm’s chief financial officer, Glenn Austin. Strategy projects will transition to each of the relevant functions and Taylor himself will be taking a key role in business development.

Notably, last December Taylor maintained that DCG’s business is “sustainable.”

He said at the time:

“DCG is not at risk of shutting down anytime soon, or of any significant cuts in staffing levels in the near term. We have a significant buffer in place to withstand the impact of the market bottom, whenever that comes.”

The firm is the latest to announce layoffs in the blockchain space as low crypto prices adversely affect business models. Last month, smart contract auditing firm Hosho cut 80 percent of its staff after business slowed in 2018. And, in January, blockchain project Nebulas axed 60 percent of its team, while the NEM Foundation also announced planned staffing cuts.

Mining giant Bitmain also announced layoffs in December, as did ethereum-focused startup ConsenSys.

Dash image via Shutterstock