B2C2 Rollercoaster Year: 2018 Bitcoin Bear Market Nearly Dooms UK’s Crypto Market-Making Firm

B2C2 is based out of the UK, and it is known to the public as “a cryptocurrency market-making firm,” according to The Block.

The Block recently published an article on the ongoing stress that the company has gone through in its run, taking it down from a historic $50 million based on deals involving Bitcoin. In fact, it plummeted so low that it almost sold for the same amount as it nearly hit rock bottom.

During the last few months, it seems that B2C2 had been looking for a way to escape the pressure of the market, trying to establish a buyer and eliminating many employees at the same time. No department was safe, considering that they even let go workers from sales and business development, and they cut ties with the public relations firm.

In November last year, B2C2 welcomed three experts in the industry to their advisory group, which included executives from Citigroup. By the beginning of 2018, they had expanded even more, establishing an office in Japan. However, the bear market soon came, bringing many difficulties and struggles for B2C2 in the process.

CEO Max Boonen reflected on the low time but spoke mainly about how the situation has improved “significantly.” He said the main cause of the improvements had to do with changes to algorithms, considering that their OTC trades are primarily handled electronically.

Presently, Boonen was clear about the fact that B2C2 does not need a buyer right now, which is a positive change in the last few months. Since March, the company has been suffering, but October seems to be when they made the most progress. Boonen noted,

“A lot of firms had a lot of problems in the past couple of months. And we did go after a few opportunities, but I am not looking to sell at this stage.”

There are plenty of other companies that suffered enough to attract media attention during the bear market as well. Noble Bank, which supported Bitfinex’s banking needs, was looking for a buyer in October. Some crypto exchanges, like Coinfloor, Kraken, and even Coinbase, have been forced to let go many of their employees as their cryptocurrency trading has fallen short. Many of the statistics of these cryptocurrency tokens can be seeing on CoinMarketCap.com.

As B2C2 reached its lowest point with layoffs and other budget cuts, some executives left willingly, like former vice president Nathan Jessop and former managing director Kevin Beardsley. In an email, Boonen said,

“Yes, we let some people go, but we also hired new people since then.” Though Boonen himself does not hold any cryptocurrency, he still said that he is “willing to keep going as an owner.”