The sackings follow a merger in June with trading platform Superhero.

Swyftx isn’t alone. The tech sector has been battered in recent months as higher interest rates hit the sector.

Blockchain.com axed about 25 per cent of its staff and crypto lender Vauld is battling to stay alive. Coinbase laid off 20 per cent of its staff and Crypto.com has hit trouble.

In the broader tech market, Canva, once valued at $US40 billion was hit earlier this year with a 58 per cent drop in its valuation.

Swyftx chief executives Alex Harper and Ryan Parsons said the company had been a witness to extraordinary growth and had celebrated countless milestones, but had been forced to reduce the size of the business.

Founded in 2018 by Harper and Angus Goldman the business claimed in June that it had 600,000 retail and corporate customers before the Superhero merger and had grown its investor base by 1200 per cent.

In an email to staff, the founders said the sackings were a last resort and the company was operating in an uncertain environment “with levels of domestic inflation not seen in over two decades, rising interest rates, highly volatile markets across all asset classes and the potential for a global recession”.

“We started growing our team in a very different world and it’s now prudent to make sure our cost base is compatible with this extended period of economic uncertainty,” they said.

“It is a hard decision to say goodbye to 21 per cent of our team.

“It is our shared responsibility to continue to drive this business forward and support each other as a 250-plus strong team. We will not lose focus on building towards our vision.”