Mass lay-offs, at BitOasis with over 30 employees fired amidst acquisition negotiations with India’s CoinDCX

Sources in the know of BitOasis’s current conditions, some of which have been affected by the latest changes, have confirmed to LaraontheBlock that on August 15^th 2023, 30-50 employees were fired from BitOasis both from their offices in Jordan as well as UAE out of a total of over 120 employees. This happens as sources confirm that BitOasis is in the midst of ongoing negotiations to be acquired by India’s CoinDCX after the UAE based crypto broker failed to receive a Full Market product license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority VARA.

Launched on April 7th, 2018, CoinDCX is a cryptocurrency exchange with its offices located in India. CoinDCX is backed by investors such as Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group, operator of BitMEX and Pantera Capital among others. According to recent figures from CoinMarketCap CoinDCX has a Spot Trading Volume (24h) of $2,023,145.62 and holds total assets of $103,283,813.20.

In April 2022, CoinDCX raised $135.9 million from investors led by Pantera Capital and Steadview Capital, doubling its valuation to $2.15 billion becoming the most valued crypto trading platform in India.

In parallel BitOasis was valued in 2021 at $120 million receiving total funding of $30 million in a series B round in October 2021 from Global Founders Capital, Pantera Capital, Wamda Capital, Digital Currency Group, Alameda Research, Jump Capital and NXMH.

Sources also confirm that given the tough situation at BitOasis with no financial license, the company valuation has decreased significantly from 120 million and a distressed deal is being discussed to ensure business continuity and a path towards licensing.

BitOasis’s buyout comes after its MVP Operational license was halted by Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority (VARA) for not meeting mandated conditions required to be satisfied within 30-60 day timeframes prior to being permitted to undertake any VARA regulated market activity, subsequent to the issuance of its License for Institutional and Qualified Retail Investors, on 12.April.2023. This meant that BitOasis had failed to meet the financial and operational conditions license obligations.

At the time BitOasis had replied that they were committed to remediate all outstanding post licensing conditions of their Operational MVP license as committed to the regulator, as well as working towards Full Market Product (FMP) licensing.  The clarification stated, “We remain committed to securing a broker-dealer license, and operating a compliant, regulated platform in and from Dubai under VARA’s supervision. Transparency has always been a key value of our business – we will continue to update our community as we address these requirements prior to applying for an FMP license.”

Given the market conditions, the high interest rate environment and low valuation multiples for public players like Coinbase, it is expected that BitOasis investors will be offered shares as part of the distressed acquisition deal.

The upcoming weeks will be the teller of all, but what is sure is that the crypto exchange ecosystem is going through a rough time not only globally but in the MENA region. With increased and stricter regulatory requirements by regulators such as Dubai’s VARA, only the strongest will survive.