Amid the crypto market carnage, digital currency exchange Coinbase has revealed its decision to lay off 18% of its employees. The announcement follows the company’s original plan to delay the hiring process and the company’s cancellation of a number of job offers.
Coinbase “grew too fast,” says crypto exchange CEO
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On June 14, Coinbase published a blog post written by its CEO Brian Armstrong. The letter from Mr. Armstrong was published in the following tweet Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong today announced the difficult decision to reduce the size of the Coinbase team by 18%. The details and rationale are in Brian’s email to employees, which is publicly available for all to see,” the company added.
Armstrong’s letter explains that the decision was made so that Coinbase can remain healthy.” Armstrong wrote, “Today, I made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by about 18% in order to remain healthy during this economic downturn. He continued, “I would like to explain below why we made this decision, but I want to begin by providing some accountability for how we got here. I am the CEO and the responsibility is mine.
Armstrong further noted that “economic conditions are changing rapidly” and that “managing costs in a down market is very important.” He also noted that Coinbase “grew too quickly.” All employees will receive a letter from the human resources (HR) department, Armstrong elaborated. The letter will state whether they “will or will not be affected by these layoffs,” Armstrong said. The laid-off employees will receive a minimum of 14 weeks severance pay, four months of COBRA health insurance, and access to the Talent Hub.
COIN’s stock price falls 85% as Coinbase goes through layoffs
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Coinbase laying off 18% follows a slew of crypto companies that are letting employees go Bitcoin.com News reported that Blockfi cut 20% of its staff on Monday, and Crypto.com’s CEO saidthe exchange had to lay off 260 employees.” Our approach is to focus on executing against our roadmap and optimize profitability by doing so.” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek so stated, Marszalek added:
This means making difficult and necessary decisions to ensure continued and sustainable growth over the long term and to reduce our workforce by 5 percent, or approximately 260 employees, with the goal of reducing the number of employees.
Many other crypto-focused companies, including Buenbit, Bitso, Rain Financial, 2TM, and Gemini, have cut staff as well. Coinbase’s layoffs also coincide with a significant drop in the value of the company’s stock. After initially trading at $342 per share, COIN has fallen 85.54% and was trading at $49.35 on Tuesday morning (US time).
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