Uphold has cut its global headcount by 17%, laying off roughly 85 employees and contractors, CoinDesk reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The company is redirecting spending toward its enterprise business after nearly doubling headcount during what CEO Simon McLoughlin called a period of "extraordinary growth."
What Uphold Is Selling to Partners
Founded in 2015, Uphold operates a multi-asset platform covering cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies and precious metals. Alongside its consumer app, the company has been building an enterprise business that enables banks, fintechs and broker-dealers to add digital asset services through a single API.
"We're recalibrating after several years of extraordinary growth," McLoughlin said, pointing to the enterprise business as the part of the company now growing fast enough to justify shifting people and budget toward it.
The strategy reflects growing demand from financial institutions looking to add crypto trading and custody without building their own regulated infrastructure. Instead, banks and broker-dealers increasingly rely on API-based and white-label providers to launch digital asset services.
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Consumer Ambitions Remain
The restructuring does not change Uphold's consumer roadmap. The company still plans to expand its retail app to compete with Robinhood and Coinbase by adding US stocks, tokenised securities, asset-backed lending and prediction markets before the end of 2026.
The layoffs therefore reflect a reallocation of investment rather than a retreat from consumer products. While the 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 pursuing both sides of the market: consumer distribution through its app and infrastructure services for financial institutions.
