Blockchain Startup R3 Trims Fifth of Jobs in Cost-Cutting Drive

R3, the blockchain company backed by investors including Bank of America Corp. and Intel Corp., fired just over a fifth of its workforce last week as it seeks to preserve cash to weather an industry downturn, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The New York-based company, one of the earliest startups to focus on developing blockchain-based systems for banks and other financial firms, said in a Sept. 11 blog post that it was reducing headcount, without giving figures. R3 eliminated jobs globally across different functions, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information.

While ...