Firi confirms its furloughs will run until the end of March 2027. The company has also hired Dino Cehajic as chief product officer, and its push into Sweden continues unaffected. Chief executive Thuc Hoang points to the law's 26-week cap on furloughs.
Photo: Thuc Hoang, chief executive of Firi
Firi announced furloughs in August, a month before launching in Sweden. It remains unclear when the furloughed staff will return – but in the same period, the crypto exchange has both hired a new product chief and continued building out its Swedish operation.
Kaupr also understands that three senior employees – Christian Etholm, Lennart Wilke and Per Morten Sandstad – have left Firi and started new roles since September.
"Under the rules a furlough can last up to 26 weeks. For those furloughed here, that means until the end of March 2027," chief executive Thuc Hoang tells Kaupr.
That is the longest period an employer can keep staff furloughed before either bringing them back or letting them go. By running to that maximum, Firi has left itself the longest possible window before it has to decide.
Even as the furloughs continue, Firi has strengthened its leadership. Dino Cehajic took over as chief product officer in October, after three years at Eika. His background spans product and business development as well as product and project management in banking, insurance, communications and retail, with work experience from Norway, Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Vienna.
Cehajic has written on LinkedIn that he is looking forward to contributing to the company's continued development, pointing to a new office, new colleagues and plenty of work at what he calls the Nordics' largest crypto exchange.
Firi launched in the Swedish market in September, a month after the furloughs were announced. According to Kaupr's own coverage of the launch, the work of establishing itself in Sweden has gone ahead as planned, with no sign it has been affected by the cuts in Norway.
Firi will not say how many of the furloughed staff have since found new jobs.
"That is a matter for the individual employee, and we do not go into individuals' situations, out of regard for privacy," says Hoang.
That means there is no overall picture of how many have left Firi of their own accord while the furlough has run, and how many are still waiting to be brought back.
Hoang attributes the furloughs to trading activity through 2026 running below what Firi had budgeted for the year.
"Trading activity here has been lower than what we assumed for 2026, and as a consequence we had to adapt. The crypto market is in continuous change, and we follow the situation on an ongoing basis," he says.
Kaupr understands that at least three senior employees have left Firi since September and started new roles. Christian Etholm, who was responsible for marketing at Firi from December 2024, started this week at Ohma. Lennart Wilke, Head of Markets since January 2025, has moved to Accenture to work on artificial intelligence, telecoms and financial services, while also taking on a lecturing role at the University of Gdańsk. Per Morten Sandstad, who was responsible for information security at Firi since July 2025, is now a senior security consultant at mnemonic.
Sources: Thuc Hoang (Firi), Kaupr
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