(Bloomberg) -- Flowdesk, a French cryptocurrency trading technology firm backed by Ledger and Coinbase Ventures, plans to more than double its workforce and expand overseas even as the wider digital asset sector reels from last year’s selloff.
The company intends to grow its team to 140 employees from 60 by the end of this year, with staff distributed across locations in Paris, Singapore and an upcoming New York office, Flowdesk co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Guilhem Chaumont said in an interview.
Flowdesk will hire to fill roles in business development, trading, operational as well as legal and compliance.
The Paris-based startup develops software that allows companies such as investment firms to trade cryptocurrencies across multiple venues. It also offers brokerage, custody an treasury management services to clients including digital-asset issuers.
Flowdesk’s expansion plans comes as many other cryptocurrency companies retrench, slashing headcount and shutting down some of their global operations. Coinbase Global Inc., Matrixport and Crypto.com are among companies that have announced layoffs since the start of 2023.
The sector has been reeling from a slump in cryptocurrency prices that triggered a wave of business failures, including the recent bankruptcies of exchange FTX and crypto lender Genesis.
While Bitcoin advanced 39% in January and the biggest token is currently trading around $23,000, volumes have remained anemic, signaling investor confidence has yet to fully recover.
Flowdesk, whose monthly spot market trading volumes range from $1 billion to $10 billion, is applying for licenses with regulators in various regions as it expands its global footprint. It has applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a digital payment token license, which would allow the firm to offer crypto trading in the city-state.
It is currently registered with France’s financial markets authority AMF.
In June, Flowdesk raised $30 million in a funding round led by Eurazeo and Aglaé Ventures. Ledger, Coinbase Ventures and Sorare also participated.
--With assistance from Suvashree Ghosh and Joanna Ossinger.
(Corrects second paragraph to change time frame to end of year.)
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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