Bitwise cuts 14% of staff to about 155, as CEO frames the reduction as growth prep

Bitwise Asset Management laid off roughly 14% of its global workforce last week, bringing headcount to about 155, CEO Hunter Horsley confirmed in an emailed statement to The Block, which reported the cuts on Wednesday. Working back from those figures, the reduction implies a pre-layoff team of roughly 180 and about 25 jobs lost — Bitwise gave a percentage and an end state, not a raw number.

Horsley did not frame it as retrenchment. The adjustment, he told The Block, "equips us well for the ongoing growth we've seen this year and expect to continue as crypto further integrates into the global economy." Bitwise did not disclose which teams were affected, what severance was offered, or whether staff from Chorus One — the institutional staking provider whose acquisition Bitwise completed in February — are inside the 155.

The financial backdrop is less upbeat than the statement. Net assets in the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), the firm's flagship product, fell 31% over the first seven months of 2026, per fund data cited by The Block. For an asset manager paid on a percentage of assets, that is a direct hit to revenue.

Bitwise is not alone. Coinbase cut 14% in May, citing the downturn and a shift toward what it called AI-native operations; BitGo cut 15% in June, citing ecosystem changes; and Polygon Labs announced its second round of cuts this year in July, as it worked to close its acquisition of Coinme and pivot toward payments. The Block reported each of those.

Key facts

• 14% — share of Bitwise's global staff cut last week (Horsley, via The Block)
• ~155 — headcount after the cuts, implying roughly 180 before (Horsley, via The Block)
• –31% — BITW net assets, January through July 2026 (fund data via The Block)
• February 2026 — Bitwise closed its Chorus One acquisition (The Block)
• Peers: Coinbase –14% (May), BitGo –15% (June), Polygon Labs second 2026 round (July) (The Block)

The real-world read

The gap between the words and the numbers is the story. A 14% cut described as equipping the firm for "ongoing growth" sits awkwardly next to a flagship fund that has shed nearly a third of its net assets since January. Both statements can be technically true — asset declines are largely price-driven, and flows may be positive — but Bitwise released no flow figures to support the growth claim, and Horsley's statement is an interested party's characterization of his own company's decision, not an independent read.

Note the timing on the other half of the messaging: on Tuesday, the day before the cuts were reported, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan told Bloomberg that bitcoin's resilience to bad news — the Clarity Act delay, Strategy selling bitcoin — suggests the bear market may have bottomed. A firm publicly calling the bottom while shrinking headcount 14% is at minimum a mixed signal, and Hougan's employer earns fees on rising assets.

One disclosure worth carrying: The Block, the sole outlet reporting this, notes that Foresight Ventures is its majority investor. No Bitwise press release accompanied the cuts — the confirmation came by email in response to reporting.

Opinion, and whose

• Hunter Horsley (Bitwise CEO): the cuts position the firm for continued growth as crypto integrates into the global economy. Company framing.
• Matt Hougan (Bitwise CIO), to Bloomberg: the bear market may have bottomed, and large wealth management platforms will be the "quiet catalyst" of the next bull run. A forecast from an interested party, not a fact.

Sources

• The Block (Timmy Shen), 12 Aug 2026 — sole source for the layoff percentage, the ~155 headcount, Horsley's emailed statement, the BITW 31% decline, the Chorus One timing, and the peer layoff tally. The Block discloses Foresight Ventures as its majority investor, with Bitget an anchor LP in that fund.
• Bloomberg — Hougan's Tuesday remarks on a possible market bottom, as relayed by The Block.
• No Bitwise announcement, filing, or SEC disclosure of the cuts has surfaced; the company's comment was given to a reporter, not published.

Nothing here is investment advice.