Gemini, Crypto.com Downsizing: How AI Is Reshaping Crypto Firms

Gemini and Crypto.com are taking different routes through the same strategic turn: using artificial intelligence to justify leaner operating models while redirecting capital toward higher-priority businesses. Gemini said on February 5, 2026 that it would cut about 25% of staff and exit the UK, EU, and Australia, linking the move to a more automated structure. Crypto.com has not published a comparable layoff statement, but it has accelerated AI investment, launched new AI-linked products, and made AI a core business line in 2026.

February 5, 2026: Gemini’s 25% Cut Put AI at the Center

Gemini’s move is the clearest documented example in crypto of management directly connecting headcount reduction to AI-driven productivity. The exchange said it would reduce its workforce by roughly a quarter as it pulled back from the UK, European Union, and Australia and refocused on the US. The Block reported on February 5, 2026 at 10:43 a.m. EST that Gemini described increased use of AI as part of a leaner, more automated operating model that could run faster with fewer employees.

The geographic retreat was not rhetorical. Gemini’s own support documentation says customer accounts in the UK, EEA, and Australia enter withdrawal-only mode starting March 5, 2026, with full account closures effective April 6, 2026. Australian customers faced an earlier fiat deadline, with AUD bank withdrawals discontinued after February 28, 2026. Those dates matter because they show the downsizing was paired with a measurable contraction in operating footprint, not just an internal efficiency program.

Gemini’s cuts also came amid broader internal strain. Bloomberg reported on February 17, 2026 at 1:38 p.m. UTC that three top executives left the company after a broad layoff round earlier in the month. The Block separately reported preliminary unaudited figures showing revenue growth in 2025 but widening losses as expenses rose, keeping profitability under pressure. That context suggests AI was part of the explanation, but not the only force. Cost discipline, weaker market conditions, and a narrower international strategy were also in play.

What Is Driving Crypto.com’s AI Push in 2026?

Crypto.com’s public disclosures point to expansion, not retrenchment, in AI. On February 3, 2026, the company launched OG, a standalone prediction-market platform offered through its CFTC-registered affiliate, Crypto.com Derivatives North America. In that announcement, CEO Kris Marszalek said the business had seen 40x weekly growth in prediction markets over the prior six months, enough to justify a dedicated platform. That is a capital-allocation signal: management is moving resources toward businesses with faster growth and clearer regulatory positioning in the US.

Separately, The Block reported on February 8, 2026 that Marszalek bought AI.com for roughly $70 million, paid entirely in cryptocurrency, to launch a consumer AI-agent platform. Crypto.com’s own market and token update pages later described AI as one of the company’s core business lines and said the firm had achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification for an Artificial Intelligence Management System. Those are concrete markers of AI becoming a board-level operating priority rather than a side experiment.

What is missing from the verified record gathered here is equally important. I did not find an official Crypto.com company statement, filing, or primary-source post confirming a fresh layoff round blamed on AI. Some search results and social reposts reference a 12% cut, but those were not primary documents and were not sufficiently reliable to treat as verified fact. For a factual article, that distinction has to remain explicit.

25% vs 40x Growth: Two Metrics Show the Same Industry Shift

Gemini’s headline number is a workforce cut of about 25%. Crypto.com’s headline number is 40x weekly growth in a business line management chose to separate into a standalone platform. Put together, the metrics show how AI is changing crypto firms in practice: fewer employees in slower or more complex units, more spending on automation, and more concentration around products that can scale with software rather than labor.

This is not unique to crypto. The Block reported on February 26, 2026 that Block Inc. cut nearly 4,000 jobs as Jack Dorsey pushed a smaller, flatter AI strategy. In crypto-native infrastructure, OP Labs cut about 20 employees in March 2026 to reduce coordination overhead, though it said finances were not the driver. The pattern across fintech and digital assets is that AI is increasingly framed as a productivity multiplier, while management teams use restructuring to simplify organizations.

How Automation Created a New Crypto Operating Model

The mechanism is straightforward. Exchanges and crypto platforms face high fixed costs in compliance, support, engineering, and regional operations. If AI tools can automate customer workflows, internal processes, content production, or parts of product development, management can support more volume with fewer people. Gemini said that directly. Crypto.com’s hiring pages and developer materials also show investment in AI automation and AI-agent infrastructure, especially around onboarding, operations, and Cronos-based tooling.

For readers, the practical takeaway is less about a single layoff headline and more about the structure of the next crypto cycle. Firms appear to be rewarding businesses with US regulatory clarity, scalable software economics, and AI-enhanced productivity. Businesses with fragmented international footprints or slower payback periods look more exposed to cuts. That is the common thread linking Gemini’s retrenchment and Crypto.com’s AI-heavy expansion.