Coinbase reportedly cutting 1,100 jobs

Coinbase is said to be planning to reduce its workforce and slash at least 18% of its total employees. This percentage is said to be equivalent to around 1,100 jobs.

According to Reuters, Coinbase was forced to do this due to the turmoil inside the cryptocurrency market. The company wants to cut costs amid the financial market downturn.

The crypto market has been declining recently, and while there are moments when it is on the rise, it has actually become unstable due to economic and geopolitical uncertainties due to various reasons, including the rising inflation and the war in Ukraine that has also affected many other business sectors in the world. In fact, even bitcoin has tumbled this week by as much as 14% after Celsius Network, a crypto lender, halted withdrawal and transfer services.

“Today I am making the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by about 18%, to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn,” Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s chief executive officer and co-founder, said in a blog post that is addressed to the employees. “I want to walk you through why I am making this decision below, but first I want to start by taking accountability for how we got here. I am the CEO, and the buck stops with me.”

He went on to say, “We have now exceeded the limit of how many new employees we can integrate while growing our productivity. For the past few months, adding new employees has made us less efficient, not more.”

Armstrong said that the management thinks the targeted resourcing changes that they are making at this moment will allow the company to become more efficient. Meanwhile, the Coinbase chief said that the affected employees were identified by senior leaders who have diligently worked to pinpoint them based on the changes that the company is working on.

He also advised the workers that some of them will be receiving emails from HR to inform them of the job termination.