Bitcoin payment company BitPay encounters development bottleneck, lays off dozens of employees to reduce costs

According to Coindesk, BitPay CEO Stephen Pair mentioned in an email to all BitPay employees that BitPay had to lay off employees in order to "reduce operating costs" and better coordinate the company's development pace in the industry.

The news of layoffs at the troubled bitcoin payments company has finally been confirmed following rumors that employees had left BitPay’s Atlanta office due to layoffs, according to Qntra .

Pair’s email, titled “Important Company Announcement,” was sent to employees across the company. The email was provided to CoinDesk by a source close to the company.

The source said 20 full-time employees and contractors may be laid off by the company.

The email content is as follows:

"I urge everyone to be professional and considerate of the company and not let the emotions of this day limit the better of you. I am deeply saddened to share this news, but it has been a privilege to know each and every one of you and to work with you. I know [executive chairman] Tony [Gallippi] feels the same way."

Pair went on to mention in the email that BitPay will provide these laid-off employees with help in finding new jobs, such as company referrals. The source also mentioned that some of the laid-off employees have met with employers in other industries.

"For those staff not affected, we will be having a meeting later today to discuss the way forward," the email concluded.

Just yesterday, BitPay announced that it would stop offering “free and unlimited” services to new merchants.

For new merchants, the first 30 transactions per month processed by BitPay are free, and each transaction thereafter will be charged a 1% fee. For its competitor, Coinbase, merchants can enjoy free fees for transactions within $1 million.

It is reported that BitPay has received US$32.5 million in three rounds of financing so far. Investors include AME Cloud Ventures, Founders Fund, RRE Ventures, angel investors Ashton Kutcher, Ben Davenport and Roger Ver.

BitPay representatives did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

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