Safe, a self-custody crypto infrastructure provider, has announced a major restructuring that includes the layoff of 14 employees, following a $1.43 billion theft from crypto exchange Bybit that was tied back to a compromised Safe developer machine.
In a recent post on X, Safe co-founder Lukas Schor expressed the difficulty of the decision to let go of 14 team members who had contributed significantly to the company’s growth. Schor cited the increasing complexity within the organization and the rising expectations from projects built on Safe as reasons for the restructure.
According to Schor, the past year has seen a rapid growth in complexity as the crypto ecosystem evolved and presented new opportunities. This growth led to coordination challenges that began to impede the company’s ability to move at the pace they desired. In response, Safe is taking steps to support the departing employees by offering extended garden leave, improved severance packages, enhanced token vesting terms, and assistance with job placement within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Moving forward, Safe will operate through three distinct teams: a revenue-focused product company, an innovation-focused R&D lab, and an ecosystem-focused foundation. Each team will have autonomy and be more focused, agile, and aligned with the expectations of the ecosystem.
The restructuring comes in the aftermath of the Bybit theft, which was linked to a breach of a Safe developer environment by the North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor. The attackers compromised a Safe{Wallet} developer’s laptop and used stolen AWS session tokens to bypass multi-factor authentication. The breach occurred when a Docker project, disguised as a “stock investment simulator,” was downloaded onto the developer’s Mac, leading to the installation of malware through communication with a suspicious domain.
Safe’s reorganization aims to address the challenges posed by the evolving crypto landscape while ensuring a more streamlined and secure operational structure. By restructuring its teams and focusing on specific areas of growth and innovation, Safe is positioning itself for continued success in the ever-changing world of cryptocurrency.
