Fireblocks Powers PhillipCapital's Digital Asset Suite Despite Staff Cut

Singapore's PhillipCapital has announced a partnership with Fireblocks to build its latest digital asset product, Symphony Digital Assets, which offers a new suite of digital asset solutions.

Symphony's first offering, the Symphony Digital Asset Wallet, will be launched in Q1 2024. The wallet is built on Fireblocks' Multi-Party Computation (MPC-CMP) technology, enabling users to store and transact their digital assets under the Singapore-based custodian.

The wallet will be integrated within PhillipCapital’s mobile trading application, POEMS Mobile 3. To mark the launch, Symphony will offer a free digital collectible, an NFT from the "People of Phillip" collection, through the app.

Eventually, the Symphony Wallet will be available as a standalone custody service and platform.

Symphony also plans to offer other digital asset solutions including tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and smart contract services this year. It aims to be a one-stop destination for clients' digital asset needs

Seh Huan Kiat, CEO of Symphony Digital Assets, described the partnership with Fireblocks as a "significant stride towards a new era in digital asset management."

Jobs on the Fire-Block

The move coincides with news of Fireblocks making another layoff announcement. On Tuesday, the firm revealed that under 3% of their workforce was impacted by their restructuring plans.

“In the last six months, Fireblocks has been working to restructure our go-to-market and customer support operations in an effort to provide our customers with a more efficient and streamlined service, and to position the company for expansion into new geographies,” the company said in a statement to Bloomberg.

Fireblocks, which was last valued at $8 billion in 2022, confirmed that 21 of its 680 staff were affected.

Last year, Fireblocks cut 5% of its staff. Again citing a "restructuring," Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said the move "will help position us to more effectively meet our business objectives and customers’ needs in 2023."

This year's job cut comes as the tech industry has seen 32,000 people lose their jobs so far. 2023 also saw Blockchain.com, Gemini, and Coinbase announce job cuts.

Crypto job postings fell 60% in December, despite the rise in cryptocurrency prices ahead of the approval of Bitcoin ETFs.