Anchorage Digital Cuts 17% of Staff Amid $4.2B Valuation and Tether Investment

Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank, has cut 17% of its workforce, affecting approximately 68 employees, according to sources familiar with the matter. The layoffs come eight months after Tether made a $100 million strategic equity investment in Anchorage, valuing the company at $4.2 billion.

The company's CEO, Nathan McCauley, informed employees of the reductions during the past week. This is not the first time Anchorage has reduced staff, as McCauley testified to the Senate Banking Committee in February 2025 that the company had cut about 20% of its workforce in 2023, affecting 70 U.S. employees.

While the layoffs may raise concerns about the company's core business, Anchorage's 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 been expanding its institutional business, including launching stablecoin infrastructure for international banks and adding institutional custody for Etherlink and several Tezos-based assets. The tension is between headcount contraction and product expansion, and if Anchorage can continue adding institutional mandates while operating with a smaller cost base, the cuts could improve operating leverage.